


Thunder and Lightning

by ObservationalObsessive



Series: Thunder and Lightning [3]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Child Abandonment, Coping, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Green Goblin - Freeform, Human Experimentation, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Torture, Nightmares, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Stark - Freeform, Peter is very trusting, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Tony Stark, Scars, Sensory Overload, Slow Burn, Steve doesn't get it, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is Peter's Dad, but not others, in some ways
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-16 18:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 46
Words: 229,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11258778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObservationalObsessive/pseuds/ObservationalObsessive
Summary: May Parker has discovered her nephew's biggest secret... and she's not happy.With nowhere else to turn, Peter Parker goes to Tony Stark. It was only supposed to be a few days - a week at the most.Now Peter's about to have a new dad and Tony's about to have a son. So what happened along the way?(This is a "Tony adopts Peter" fic as well as one where May isn't the best. If you don't like that, just don't read it. - Currently on hiatus but I promise it's going to be updated and completed as soon as possible!)





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place after That's Not A Hug parts 1 & 2.
> 
> These stories have grown into their own universe with quite a few more planned. They do not follow any movies, comics, or even shows exactly. Some characters my seem OOC because we have created our own versions of them. Some things (such as how the Avengers or back together regardless of Civil War) are not really explained so just... go with it, I guess. ;D
> 
> There are more characters who will show up in future stories. My plan is to explain some major differences as we get to them in the notes of chapters. 
> 
> I often say "we" when referring to these stories. Let me explain. I started this as a small collection of one-shots, much more closely tied to the movies. Two of my friends helped me expand something and we ended up planning a lot together. So I consider it all three of ours though I am the only one writing it.
> 
> Ok. I'm going to end this here! More notes at the end of the chapter! I'm hoping I can manage weekly updates.

No one seemed to be able to move.

Tony and Peter stood next to each other, Peter resisting the urge to hide behind his friend, as May stared at them from the doorway.

Unfortunately for Peter, he was wearing his Spider-Man suit... but no mask. Tony had made a new suit for him the day after everything had happened with Osborn. This one was equipped with a tracking device that Tony assured Peter would only be activated if he had reason to believe Peter was in trouble and he couldn’t find him.

Peter had protested the idea a little but mostly just to keep up appearances. Really, he liked that Tony had thought of that and it did make him feel a lot safer knowing Tony would be able to find him if anything happened again.

Now, he had come to the tower for a minor suit repair and maybe a little medical attention. He’d been out for a few hours as Spider-Man and an attempt to stop a mugging just hadn’t gone completely in his favor. He couldn’t reach the bruises forming on his back so he’d decided to go to Tony.

He realized now, as he stared back at his aunt’s currently expressionless face, that he hadn’t called her to tell he’d be late, which was something he’d specifically he’d do that evening if he wasn’t going to be home straight after school. Aunt May had wanted to go out but didn’t want to wait for him if he decided to go to Ned’s or the tower or whatever else he did. But she also hadn’t want to leave without him only for him to get home two minutes later so they’d both agreed that he should call her and let her know what his plan was after school.

Apparently he’d forgotten to do that.

She wasn’t saying anything and he couldn’t figure out what she thinking. Was she mad? She didn’t quite seem mad but it wouldn’t be impossible to believe either. After what felt like an eternity of staring silently, Peter looked at Tony instead. He wanted someone to say something but he wasn’t going to be the one to do it first.

Tony met his eyes and seemed to understand, turning back to May again. “I know what you’re thinking, May, but -”

May’s eyes snapped to Tony’s, now showing the fire she’d surely been feeling inside the whole time. “Don’t say that! You have no idea what I’m thinking.” She pointed a finger at him accusingly. “And if you think that you get to say _anything_ right now, you are so wrong.”

“Excuse me?” Tony scoffed, straightening his posture. “You’re in _my_ tower right now, ok? And regardless of whatever you may be telling yourself, I’m a part of this discussion.”

May glared daggers at him and cocked her head. “You know what? You’re right. You are a part of this. You invited yourself into our lives and have been pulling us apart ever since! This is your fault, isn’t it?”

Tony opened his mouth to say something - probably something negative from the furious look on his face - but Peter hurried to speak before he could.

“No way!” Peter exclaimed, surprised by the confidence in his own voice. “You can’t say that. Tony didn’t do anything wrong. All he’s done is help me.”

Both adults moved to argue his statement so he kept talking, not wanting to hear May’s deprecating comments about Tony just as much as he didn’t want to hear Tony disagree with what he was saying. Like he always did. He was too hard on himself and Peter hated it.

“If we’ve been pulled apart, you can’t blame him for that. Don’t put the blame of whatever we’ve done wrong on him,” Peter stressed, tossing his mask to the counter. His aunt’s eyes followed it and stayed where it landed for a moment before looking back at her nephew.

“No, you’re right,” she amended, her easy acceptance making both Peter and Tony a little nervous. “This isn’t all his fault. The Spider-Man thing started before we ever met him, which means you did that on your own, didn’t you?”

Peter nodded mutely.

“Right after everything…” she shook her head incredulously. “Did you ever think for one second about the consequences of what you were doing? Do you have any idea the hours I’ve spent sitting up waiting for you to come home only to have you lie to my face and keep your entire life a secret from me? I didn’t deserve that, Peter. I have dedicated everything to making sure you have a good life and you wanted to sneak around with Tony Stark and fight the bad guys. That is not ok with me!”

“Who cares what you deserve?” Tony cut in, holding his arm out in front of Peter to try and get him not to talk. “He’s _your_ kid, May, and if he didn’t want to tell you about all of this then let’s stop and think about what the actual problem is. I’ve said it before; if he doesn’t think you care, why should he tell you anything?”

“I care, Stark,” May snapped, everything about her stance defensive. “Not everything wrong in a family can be blamed on the adult. Sometimes the kid is at fault too. There’s only so much you can do! You could never understand. You don’t have a kid.”

Tony smirked, “I think I understand. I understand that you don’t want to take responsibility for any of your problems. I understand that Peter feels like there’s no one to turn to at home so he turns to people like me instead. You know, people who put some work into building a good relationship. People who he can _tell_ actually care about him. And I do. I care about every one of my teammates and I care about Peter. And he knows that,” he turned to the teenager in question. “Don’t you? And you don’t think she does.”

Peter stared at him, eyes wide. “Tony, don’t do this. Seriously, please stop.”

“No, Peter,” Tony shot back immediately. “I’m sorry you want to just ignore all of this and keep pushing it under the rug but I’m not going to let you do that anymore. Because I _care_ ,” he said, shooting a cold look at May.

“Ok,” May laughed humorlessly. “You know what? If you’re so much better than me… you can just keep him.”

“What?” Peter’s jaw dropped. “You don’t mean that...”

He was telling himself that more than he was asking her.

May sighed and looked away. “If I’m really such a disappointing aunt, why stick around, right? Besides, I didn’t think I’d raised a liar and I don’t want one living in my home.”

“Are you serious right now?” Tony demanded, stepping closer to her. “This is your solution? You don’t like what’s going on so you’re just gonna kick him out? He’s fifteen, May!”

“Stop judging me!” May shouted, jabbing her finger at his chest. “You don’t know me and you don’t know my life! I _never_ asked for any of this!”

“Meaning what?” Tony bit back, raising his voice as well. “You never asked for him?” He gestured behind him at Peter, who was standing completely still against the wall. “Well, you got him anyway.”

“I thought it would be a month at the _most_ ,” She cried. “I never would’ve agreed to the _rest of my life_. The rest of _our_ lives. I lost all that time with Ben and I never wanted it to be that way. I don’t know how to do this! I’ve tried and I thought I was doing ok but _you_ have made it abundantly clear that I’m not!” She threw her arms up and waited for Tony to respond.

Tony straightened again, nodded slowly, considering her words. He looked back at Peter, who met his eyes immediately. The poor kid looked like he was fighting back tears and wasn’t about to say anything. After holding their eye contact for a quiet minute, Tony turned back to May. “So you’re giving up.” He was too angry now to yell. His voice was hardly above a whisper. He narrowed his eyes and nodded again. “He’s _fifteen_ ,” he said again, his tone disbelieving.

She scoffed and started to back away again. “Yeah, and he’s Spider-Man, apparently.” She looked over Tony’s shoulder, finally locking eyes with Peter again. “I’m not going to put up with your lying anymore. You’ve used me and broken our trust. You need to decide what’s really important to you before you can come back and expect me to move forward like there’s no problem. It’s not fair to ask that of me and I don’t have the patience for it.”

She didn’t wait for either of them to respond. She just left. She walked out without a second glance and Peter felt his world shatter.

-

Peter stood on the landing pad of the tower. He was wearing his civilian clothes again and had not only his too-full backpack on but a duffel bag slung over one shoulder. He set it down and stared at the door. The shades were closed, which meant Tony didn’t want him to come in uninvited.

He’d have to knock if he wanted in and he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to do it.

After May had left the tower, Peter had insisted that he had to follow her. That he could reason with her. That everything would be ok.

Tony wouldn’t let him leave until he’d finished treating his various injuries. Every time Peter came to him for that, Tony thanked the stars it wasn’t as bad as it had been a few months before. Each time he heard Peter was hurt he imagined the worst. But even though Peter was never that damaged, Tony wouldn’t let it go uncleaned at least.

So he’d cleaned him up and let him go, watching him in hurry out of the tower in desperation to patch everything together again. Tony couldn’t help wishing he hadn’t let him leave. He was going to get hurt again and Tony knew it.

He wasn’t sure what to feel after everything that had been said. He felt, to some extent, as if he really had torn their little family apart. He’d gotten too close and even though he still wasn’t sure how to feel about it he saw how Peter looked up to him and he wasn’t blind to the fact that Peter spent more time at the tower, even just to do his homework and leave, than he spent at his apartment with his aunt. He hadn’t made Peter do that… but he had never tried to stop him. He’d never told him to spend the evening with May and he’d questioned his decision not to tell but had never really tried to convince him to say anything.

And he knew that May had been suspicious and far more negative toward Peter spending time with Tony ever since their little spat after the Osborn incident. He’d known she’d find out eventually and of course she wouldn’t be happy but he never would’ve expected what had happened. Even though he was trying not to blame himself entirely because he knew that just wasn’t fair… he wondered if things might’ve gone differently without his interference and accusations. Maybe she wouldn’t be pushing Peter away.

And pushing him away she was.

Peter had made it back home in record time. He’d tried as hard as he could to explain himself and apologize for all the lies. Almost a straight year of lies. And he was truly sorry for that but not for what he’d been trying to cover up.

He wanted her understand and tried to tell her whatever she might want to know and anything he thought could help them to make amends. No matter what he said though, May wouldn’t listen. He’d never seen her so furious and she couldn’t seem to decide if she was mad at Peter or Tony.

Peter figured it was both of them, really.

After more yelling, mostly from her since Peter was still a little in shock from the whole situation, May told him that she needed space to think and she knew that she didn’t want him there.

“You mean like… for good?” He asked her hesitantly. She was standing with her back to him and he was still in front of the door, where he’d been since he’d entered the apartment about an hour before.

She sagged her shoulders and Peter wished he could see what her face was doing. “I don’t know. Maybe? I just can’t deal with this now, Peter. I can’t believe you did this to me…”  
Peter bit his lip, thinking hard about what his next words were going to be. He nodded. “Ok. I want to make this up to you so… I’ll go. Maybe in a few days things will be different, right?” He offered a weak smile, even though she couldn’t see him. “I won’t call. I’ll wait for you to want to talk to me, ok? Can I just… get some things from my room before I go?”

May nodded, apparently not planning on saying anything. As much as he felt horrible for thinking it since he honestly wanted to make her less miserable, he’d been hoping she was going to say he didn’t have to leave. He wasn’t really sure where he’d go.

The only logical solution seemed to be to see if Tony would let him crash on the couch for a few nights or something. He felt bad asking but what else was he going to do?

And so, after packing his two bags with enough of everything he thought he might need, Peter left the apartment. He looked back at May as he left, considering saying goodbye. But she hadn’t seemed like she wanted to hear it so he decided not to say it.

So there he was. Standing in front of Tony’s door and wondering if he should really ask him something so big. He felt horrible about the whole thing. The knowledge that all of that had happened with Tony around made Peter feel pretty bad. That must’ve been uncomfortable for Tony and even though he’d been trying to defend Peter, who would want to be in that position, really?

Before Peter could decide what he was going to do, the door flew open and Peter found himself face to face with Tony, who looked utterly wiped out.

“Hey,” Peter choked out, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. His entire face turned red as he geared up to just ask him. “I just wanted to -”

Tony snatched the duffel bag from Peter and nodded him in, stepping aside to open the doorway. Peter followed him in.

“I swear, it’ll only be for a few days,” Peter assured, speaking a mile a minute. “Maybe a week _at the most_. She was super mad but I think she’ll calm down, don’t you? So I just have to kinda wait it out but I’ll try not to be around too much because I really just need somewhere to sleep so-”

“Peter,” Tony cut in, sounding a little disgruntled. Peter noticed that his posture was more slouched than usual. He glanced at the minibar Tony had at the side of the room and saw a couple empty bottles resting there. “I’m happy to let you stay here, ok? C’mon, let me show you what room you’ll be in.”

“Room?” Peter repeated, tearing his gaze away from the bottles. “I can just sleep on the couch or something, Tony. I don’t need -”

“Yeah, well what if I need to watch tv in the middle of the night and I really want to come sit on these couches instead of watching in my room? What then, Peter? No. You get a room.”

Peter only nodded and hurried to keep up with Tony as he made his way out of the room. He’d figured out a while ago that there wasn’t a whole lot of point in arguing with Tony and if you really wanted to do it, it was better to save it for the important things.

Well, that and he _would_ rather have a bed than a couch… 

Tony didn’t seem to have any words to say to Peter. He stood in the doorway of the room he’d chosen for Peter, which was just two doors down from his own, and watched Peter unpack his things into the empty dresser drawers. He said he wanted to make sure Peter would be able to find him without getting lost if he needed anything. Peter didn’t see the logic in that though because FRIDAY could just tell him which way to go. 

He didn’t mind though. The idea of having Tony close by actually comforted him a little. Ever since Osborn, Peter had been having nightmares almost every night. He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone because it wasn’t really a big deal, was it? His aunt had never brought it up so he didn’t think she heard. But Peter thought he might sleep better knowing someone who could and - maybe more importantly - _would_ protect him was so close by.

“You know,” Peter tried, dumping the t-shirts he’d grabbed from his room into the top drawer. “If I’m only here for a few days, I probably don’t really need to unpack.”

Tony frowned for a moment, almost just a flicker of sadness in his eyes, before shaking it off and shrugging at Peter. “Yeah, but it’s easier if all your stuff is in drawers, right? And maybe you’ll just have a great time here and decide to stick around a little longer. Who knows?” He smirked, trying and failing to make light of the situation.

Peter just stared dryly at him and then kept unpacking. Next was a stack of books, which had taken up the majority of the space in his duffel bag. He needed some for school but there were also some he just liked and wanted to have with him. He started lining them up in the next drawer, figuring it was either that or they’d just be stacked against the wall.

Tony watched him unloading his books with a bemused smile. “You have enough of those? I thought you were only staying a few days.”

Peter chuckled a little, glad for the small change in atmosphere. “Yeah, but like you said, who knows, right? Besides, most of these are for school. Ok… maybe not _most_ …”

“Yeah, ok,” Tony pushed himself off of the doorframe, which he’d been leaning on. “D’you need anything?”

“Uh… no,” the teenager answered without actually considering it. He was already asking Tony to let him stay at the tower. He wasn’t going to ask for anything else.

Tony nodded like he knew exactly what Peter had just been thinking, which he maybe did. Peter was never sure if Tony really knew what was going on inside his head or just liked Peter to think he did. “Well, you can come find me if you do. Or ask FRIDAY. Bathroom’s down the hall.”

As soon as the door closed behind him, Peter got sucked into a seemingly endless thought loop. He couldn’t help it. It felt like every insecure thought and feeling he’d felt in at least the past few months had decided to band together and raid his brain. Like an epic siege from a fantasy movie…

Or maybe not, since it didn’t feel very epic. Although, would it feel epic to be in the castle being attacked by the enemy? Maybe not.

He was either too tired to keep thinking about epic fantasy movies or the enemy was too strong because he just ended up giving in and drowning in his insecurities.

But who wouldn’t when the woman who raised you had decided she didn’t want you any more?

Peter was fairly certain he was going to ruin yet another relationship now. He knew it was too much to ask of Tony to let him stay there. Especially on such short notice. And Peter knew Tony had been drinking, which he couldn’t help thinking was maybe his fault. 

After all, Peter was the one who wouldn’t stop bothering him every time he got hurt and Peter was the one whose aunt had just come into Tony’s tower and freaked out.

He knew Tony wanted to help him. He knew that. No matter what the troll army or whatever was saying while it swarmed through his mind, he knew that Tony cared and genuinely wanted to help.

He never would’ve said the things he’d said to Aunt May if he didn’t.

So it wasn’t that Peter thought Tony _didn’t_ want to help… he just thought maybe he was taking advantage of that, even if it was unintentional. And it was.

But did that make it ok?

Peter didn’t think so.

What else was he supposed to do though? He couldn’t go to Ned’s apartment. For one thing, it was too small and he didn’t really know how long he’d need to be there. And Ned’s mom was really nice but she was insanely protective and the kind of person who never stopped disliking someone after she’d started. Peter was sure Aunt May would calm down soon and everything would go back to normal but Ned’s mom would never forgive her if she found out about this. She wouldn’t understand and she’d be all passive aggressive about it every time Peter came by to see her son.

But now that Peter thought of it, he didn’t really know that Aunt May would calm down… how could he know that? And how could he expect it? That wasn’t fair.

He was trying to tell himself that she’d only said the things she had in the heat of the moment but they had to be at least partially true, right? It made sense, really.

Ben and May hadn’t asked to have a kid. In fact, he was pretty sure that had decided not to. They wanted to wait a while. But then his parents dropped him off one night and everything changed for all of them. He knew that wasn’t his fault… he had only been six and he hadn’t killed his parents so he couldn’t be blamed for that. But he still felt guilty. 

Peter remembered Uncle Ben showing him his travel book. It was a scrapbook of all the places he wanted to go and all the places he had been. The “dream side”, as he’d called it, had been filled with pictures of exotic places and different countries. The “memory side” was only a couple pages and the pictures were just from their honeymoon and a couple small road trips after. They’d been saving and had planned to travel the world before they settled down with kids. 

And then there was Peter.

They never went anywhere after that, really. Still just the tiny road trips, which Peter remembered fondly. Except now he just felt horrible about them. That had never been what they’d wanted and it was all his fault…

And now what? If his aunt didn’t take him back, was he going to do that to Tony too? He didn’t want Tony to feel trapped like his aunt had. And if he did, Peter hoped he’d be able to tell the way he never had with May. Maybe he could try to make sure things didn’t go the same way.

But maybe… maybe his aunt would take him back. She still loved him, didn’t she? So maybe he wouldn’t have to worry about messing things up with Tony…

But for some reason he was pretty sure he would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. So first, let me explain May.
> 
> I picture her like the current Marisa Tomei portrayal but as far as character goes, she's not inspired by her. She's not inspired by any portrayal or comic version of the character. So please do not think that I believe any version of Aunt May would react to things the way she does in this story. Also, let me reassure you that this May is not a bad person and she does love Peter. However, she just doesn't know how to be a parent or even just to be the person Peter needs. 
> 
> In this fic, she relied on Ben for a lot of things and in a lot of areas. One of those was raising Peter. Now that Ben is gone, she's still grieving, and Peter's been lying to her since Ben died... she's just not sure what to do. She's lost and staying together probably wouldn't be good for her or for Peter.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's chapter two!
> 
> So, I said Tuesday and it's a little early. At least for me! I'm sure it's already Tuesday for some of you.
> 
> Anyway, the plan is to update every Tuesday so you can expect chapter three in one week! :)

Tony was walking back to his room during some horrifying hour when he heard it.

He’d been up in his lab all night, trying to drink away his frustration and anxiety. He was mad at himself and mad at May and had gotten sucked into hours of memories of his parents.

He wasn’t proud of the way he’d handled it and was already paying for it, which was probably the only reason he was going to bed now. His head was pounding and making it hard to think anymore, which he guessed was also a good thing in its way. 

Just after getting to his door and starting to reach for the handle, he heard something that made his heart shatter. There were panicked sobs coming from the room he’d put Peter in. He knew those kinds of sobs. He’d experienced the same thing enough times.

With a heavy sigh, he opened Peter’s door, heading straight for the bed to wake him up. He only had to shake Peter’s shoulder for a moment before he gasped and sat straight up, arms flying out in a clumsy attempt at some kind of defense. Tony grabbed his lower arms, trying to get him to hold still. He fought Peter’s attempt to pull away until Peter stopped moving his arms, letting them hang there in Tony’s grasp. 

“Hey,” he said, watching Peter’s wide eyes trying to look at everything at once. “Hey, settle down. You’re fine, Peter. You’re with me, you’re ok.”

“What? What… Tony?” he sounded out of breath, which he probably was. He finally managed to focus on Tony’s face, looking at him with eyes so desperate and scared Tony almost wished he’d look away again. “I’m sorry…”

“No,” Tony closed his eyes briefly and sighed tiredly. “You don’t have to be sorry, Peter. You didn’t do anything…”

“No, I _am_. I _am_ sorry. I’m sorry,” Peter insisted, his words slurring through the tears that had started to spill from his eyes. “I’m just scared, Tony.” He leaned forward, his forehead pressing heavily into Tony’s chest. 

“What are you scared of?” Tony asked softly, letting go of Peter’s arms and wrapping his own around Peter’s much smaller frame, resting his chin on top of his head. “What was your nightmare about? Sometimes talking about it helps.”

“Those are two different answers,” he whispered, his voice so quiet Tony had to strain his ears to hear him. When Tony just waited, Peter sighed and kept talking. “It was about Osborn…”

Tony cringed at the answer. He hadn’t known Peter was still struggling so much with that… but he wasn’t surprised. He wouldn’t be over it yet had he been in Peter’s position. Now that he was thinking of it, he wondered if the arm he’d just been holding still showed signs of what had happened to Peter.

“I’m scared of being alone.”

This made Tony go still. He knew what that felt like and he hated that Peter knew too… He sighed again and held Peter a little tighter. “You’re not alone, kid. I’m here.”

Peter laughed humorlessly, the sound wet and choked from his tears. “And I hate that…”

“W-what do you mean?” Tony’s face contorted in confusion at that. “You hate that I’m here?”

“I hate that I’m _making_ you be here,” Peter moaned miserably, snaking his arms around Tony’s torso and holding on so tightly Tony would’ve told him to lighten up a little in any other situation. “I’m not… I’m not trying to do this to you!”

“Do what?” No response. He only sobbed again. “Peter, do what?”

If he hadn’t been trying so hard to able to hear Peter, he wouldn’t have understood Peter’s barely existent whisper of a response. “I can smell it, Tony.”

He’d been about to ask was Peter meant when he realized. Tony sighed again, now just disappointed in himself. “Peter, that’s not-”

“I know that was because of me! And I’m sorry but I didn’t have anywhere else to go and I needed you but I know it’s wrong!” His words were broken in places by his continued sobs and Tony wished he could change the way this whole day had gone. He would’ve taken every piece of it back if he could.

“It’s not wrong,” Tony reassured, rubbing circles on Peter’s back. “How many times have I told you, I’ll always help if you come to me? And even if you don’t, I’ll help you.”

Tony guessed Peter had run out of words for now. He had gone back to just sobbing and coughing through those sobs. Every now and then he started muttering “sorry”s again and each time he said it, Tony hugged him tighter. 

Why couldn’t there be some magic words to fix this?

-

Pulling the freezer door open in a slow and draggy motion, Tony reached in and grabbed two pint sized ice cream tubs, not looking at the labels. He tossed one over his shoulder, knowing Peter would catch it. He did.

“Is ice cream always your solution when I’m having a bad day?” Peter questioned, though he didn’t sound all together unhappy about it.

“I’ve found it to be a good one in all my years of living,” Tony replied, pressing the small tub to his forehead as he shuffled to couch, assuming Peter would follow. And once again; he did.

Peter handed Tony a spoon as they sat down and turned over his ice cream to look at the flavor. Neapolitan. It wasn’t his favorite but it was ice cream… and ice cream _did_ seem to help.

They had spent at least an hour just sitting together in Peter’s room. Only once he’d stopped crying and had settled down to a quivering sniffle that reminded Tony how young Peter was had Tony spoken again. He hadn’t really known what to say so he’d just suggested ice cream, which had become his go-to answer as far as Peter was concerned.

Tony cleared his throat and scooped a large amount of his peanut butter ice cream into his spoon. “You have school in a few hours, right?”

Peter turned to look at him, his spoon hanging out of his mouth. He dropped it back into his hand when he spoke. “Uh, yeah. Why?”

Tony nodded thoughtfully, eating another spoonful. “Do you need me to drive you or something? You’re not really used to going there from the tower, are you?”

“No… I guess I’m not. But I’ve come here _from_ school often enough. I mean, I usually make a few stops along the way but I think I know the way.”

“All right,” Tony muttered. He stabbed at the ice cream a little with the tip of his spoon. “Just let me know if you change your mind or something. I’m here to help,” he told him, offering a small smile.

Peter smiled back and sort of nestled into the couch cushions some more. “Thanks.”

They sat in silence for a bit after that. There was ice cream to be eaten, after all, and talking would only slow the process and leave it melty. As soon as Peter finished his, he looked to see if Tony was finished too. He wasn’t. He was just staring into it like it held the key to everything and he just had to find out how to get it.

“Tony…?” He said hesitantly. The man looked up him, eyebrows raised in what seemed like feigned awareness. “You don’t have to.”

“Have to what?” He asked, leaning a little closer to the teenager.

Peter shrugged. “You don’t have to help me. Not any more than you already are, which you also don’t have to do obviously…”

Tony heaved a sigh and set his head back against the top of the couch, closing his eyes tightly. “Peter, I know that. I don’t have to do anything. I’m just doing what I want, ok?”

“You seem agitated,” Peter told him blankly. “Are you agitated?”

The man groaned slightly. “I might be soon.” He lifted the hand holding his ice cream and waved it in Peter’s general direction. “Here, eat this. My head hurts too much to have any more.”

Peter frowned, setting it on the coffee table instead. He stood up slowly, trying to avoid jostling the couch at all. It was obvious Tony was still recovering from whatever he’d been drinking before, which seemed like it made sense. Peter didn’t really know how long it normally took for that kind of thing to wear off… or if ice cream helped. He hoped ice cream helped.

If Tony’s head was still hurting so much, Peter figured it was a good thing he hadn’t wanted a ride. Peter was pretty sure Tony was going to fall asleep soon, which was good. The last thing he wanted was to bother him at all so he just slipped back to his room. Luckily for Peter, he’d been considerably less clumsy since the spider bite and more light on his feet.

He made it to the room without making very much noise and felt a little proud of himself. He threw on some clean clothes and shoved everything he needed for school into his backpack.

“Hey, FRIDAY,” Peter called out as softly as he could while still feeling like the AI would hear him.

“Yes, Mr. Parker?” She responded. Her voice was louder than Peter had expected, making him jump a little. He turned slightly pink and sighed at his own jumpiness.

“Can you tell Tony I left for school? But not until he wakes up!” He added as fast he could, hoping she hadn’t already told him. “I don’t think he’s getting enough sleep.”

“Of course,” FRIDAY said back to him. “Have a nice day.”

Peter smiled a little. He liked that Tony had been sure his AI felt more like a person than a machine. It was different and certainly helped to make Peter feel less alone.

As tempted as Peter was to use his webshooters to get to school or to at least crawl down the side of the tower before walking the rest of the way, he decided to simply take the elevator. About halfway down, he realized he’d never actually _walked_ from the tower before and hoped he could still tell his way around.

He was pretty good at that normally. He could swing around an area and then navigate it on the ground as well, or the other way around, as long as he could focus enough. He was hoping he’d be able to but also still felt like he had a tornado of thoughts in the back of his mind and wasn’t sure how long he could go before that tornado made it to the front instead.

-

“... Yeah, I see the school now. I’ll talk to you in, like, two seconds,” Peter said into his phone, hanging up the call and shoving the device into his back pocket.

He’d been roughly halfway to the school when he realized he’d taken a wrong turn. Not really wanting to change into his suit and definitely not wanting to draw unwanted attention to himself as Peter Parker, he figured he couldn’t just use his webs as a last minute solution.

After trying to use the map on his phone and failing miserably when it wouldn’t stop crashing every time he tried to type in the location, he just called Ned to see if he could help him out.

He might’ve called Aunt May under normal circumstances but… well…

And he wasn’t going to call Tony because he had just gone to the trouble of making sure he _wasn’t_ bothering him so that would just cancel all of that out. Plus, he’d feel a little foolish after just having said he’d be fine on his own.

So he’d called Ned. Because Ned had never been one to judge him and even if he didn’t know the way on his own, his phone was newer and could probably be more of a help.

And that was how he’d ended up spending the rest of his walk there on the phone.

Ned was waiting on the sidewalk in front of the school when he got there. Of course, Peter knew what was coming.

“Ok, so why were you walking a different way exactly? Did you need to fight some villain dudes or -”

“Ned, no,” Peter cut in, even though he was smiling in spite of himself. “I’ll tell you later, ok?”

“Right, ok, but when later?” Ned asked him as they walked up to the building. Peter rolled his eyes and his smile grew.

“I don’t really know but I can’t talk about it in front of a lot of other people, ok?”

His friend shot him a disappointed frown but nodded, starting to veer towards his locker. “Yeah, ok, but you _will_ tell me!”

Peter gave him a quick thumbs up and went to his locker as well. He wasn’t really sure what he was going to tell him. He didn’t want any of it getting out around the school but he knew Ned was pretty good at keeping secrets. He’d proven that already. But Peter knew Ned would be upset when he heard about Aunt May and he didn’t like to not talk about things he was upset about.

Really, Peter was more concerned about Ned’s mom finding out than anything. Plus, if his mom found out she’d want to know why he hadn’t gone to her and then she might be offended on top of it all. She was the kind of person who really liked to help people and tended to be a little put out when she wasn’t called upon to do that.

He really didn’t want to get her involved but he couldn’t not tell Ned. Especially since he’d just promised him that he would.

“Maybe I could just say where I was and not explain _why,_ ” Peter muttered under his breath while he shoved his jacket into his locker. It wasn’t very cold that day so he didn’t think he needed it.

“What?” Someone said behind him. 

He whirled around, surprised that someone had even heard him. It was Mary Jane, who was looking just calculative as ever. He really wished she’d stop looking at him like that...

“Hey there!” He said, hoping he just sounded friendly and not insane. He thought maybe he was trying to hard to look happy so he dialed it back a little, crossing his arms and leaning against his locker door uncomfortably. _Please just look casual and inconspicuous._

Mary Jane raised her eyebrow at him, adjusting her hold on her armload of books. “Hey. What are doing?”

“Getting ready… for class…?”

“No, what are doing talking to yourself? It’s a little weird, Peter, and I’m getting worried about you,” she said dryly.

Peter laughed awkwardly, pushing himself off of the locker again. It hurt to much and looking casual while feeling pain was just not worth it to him. Besides, he was pretty sure he’d been failing anyway. “I was just… reviewing my schedule in my head.”

Mary Jane narrowed her eyes at him and smirked again. Gosh, he wished she’d stop that. She was like Tony in the always looking like she knew his thoughts area… but somehow worse. “Yeah. Sure.”

Peter didn’t answer. He didn’t see a reason to bother and Ned was coming up to them then, which seemed like a perfect way to change the subject. “Hey, Ned! Ready for class?”

“Yes?” Ned squinted at him, clearly trying to figure something out. Peter wasn’t sure if this was still about where’d been or if he was just acting so weird that both of his friends were viewing him as a confusing puzzle of a person.

“Ok, well let’s go then,” Peter suggested. “I don’t want to be late.”

“You’re not going to be,” Mary Jane interjected, not even looking at him now as she flipped through one of her books. “We have plenty of time. Hey, I wanted you to look at some of my notes for science. I’m having trouble with -”

Peter’s phone made a noise alerting him to a text message. He pulled out his phone and she stopped talking, waiting for him to be able to pay attention.

**Did you get to school? FRIDAY just told me you left and didn’t want to wake me up. You didn’t have to do that.**

Tony.

“Just a second,” Peter told Mary Jane, typing his response. She sighed but waited all the same.

**Yeah, I’m at school right now. You seemed really tired.**

He got a response almost immediately after sending his text.

**I’m fine. Just tell me yourself next time.**

“Who is it?” Ned asked curiously.

Peter looked up at him, biting his lip uncertainly. Mary Jane knew that he knew Tony at this point. He hadn’t been able to keep that to himself very long and his two friends both found out about a week after Germany. But she didn’t know how much time he spent with him or that they would be texting each other about anything.

“Is it… something covert?” Ned asked him in a hushed tone, earning an unimpressed glare from his friend.

“Covert?” Mary Jane repeated quizzically, trying to look at his screen.

Peter clicked the power button and took a step back. “Uh, yeah, I actually have to…” waving his phone awkwardly in front of his face and giving them an apologetic smile, he started to move away from his two friends.

“Wait, but, Peter,” Mary Jane lifted her science notebook expectantly.

He opened his mouth to say something but when no words came he only shrugged and left to respond to Tony again.

-

“Do you have to text me at school?” Peter demanded the second he got in the door later that day.

Tony, who was sitting in front of the tv fiddling with a piece of one of his many suits, looked up at the teenager with his eyebrows raised. “Is that bad? I was concerned and wanted to make sure everything was ok.”

“Yeah, and then you texted me all through lunch just to ask about the eyes on my mask!” He exclaimed, tossing his backpack into a chair and going to the kitchen. “What was that about?”

“Well, I thought it was time for an upgrade but I wanted your opinion on some stuff. It’s _your_ suit.”

Peter rolled his eyes and grabbed a pear from the fruit bowl. “Yeah, but now my friends are annoyed at me because I wouldn’t sit with them at lunch.”

Tony looked at him incredulously. “Why did you do that? And how is it my fault?”

“I was trying to text you back!”

“Hey, no one was making you answer me. You could’ve ignored me.” He shrugged and smirked at Peter like he’d just made an unbeatable move.

Peter just snorted and went to sit by the inventor, watching him work. “Yeah, because that _wouldn’t_ have annoyed you at all.”

“Exactly,” Tony grinned and turned his attention back to his armor, which Peter could now see was one of the knees.

“I told Ned I was staying with you.” Peter stared at the still uneaten fruit in his hand. “Is that ok?”

Tony took a minute to respond. Peter had to make a point of telling himself that it was probably because he was focusing on his work and not because he was mad. There was no good reason to think that yet.

“Why wouldn’t it be? It’s not a lie.” He set down his screwdriver and picked up a different size of the same tool.

Peter nodded, taking a bite of his pear. “Yeah, but I just didn’t know if you were ok with people knowing you have a kid staying with you. I don’t want to make things awkward or whatever…” He spoke without swallowing his food, which was something his aunt probably would’ve scolded him for.

“It’s fine, kid,” Tony told him. “What did Ned say?”

Peter shrugged and ate some more of his pear. “I mean, I guess he was kinda surprised. He wanted to know why and I didn’t tell him ‘cause his mom would freak out and I don’t want things to be awkward with her when I go back home.”

Tony only looked at Peter for a moment and then turned his gaze back to the Iron Man knee bent over his actual Tony Stark knee.

“I said I’d tell him about it another time. I think he assumed it had something to do with Spider-Man… which I guess it does,” he frowned thoughtfully and shrugged again.

“Yeah, but doesn’t everything you do somehow? Because you _are_ Spider-Man?”

“You know what I mean!” Peter smiled, pushing down the prickling guilt in the back of his mind. When he wasn’t just letting himself sink into his thoughts, he knew it was unreasonable to not let himself be happy at all.

“Well,” Tony sighed, setting down his metal knee on the table. “For whatever it’s worth, I think you should tell him.”

Peter’s face scrunched up, mostly to one side, and he cocked his head to the right. “Why? I mean, I just feel like maybe it would be better to just try and keep this whole thing kinda quiet. It should all be back to normal in a little bit…”

“It’s just that you don’t _know_ that,” he explained, turning more to one side so that he could look at Peter straight on. “Because you can’t, you know that right? May didn’t give you a time frame or a promise of when she’d want you back.”

“Yeah ok, Tony, but I know her and she doesn’t stay that mad for very long so…” His eyebrows drew closer together, his halfhearted smile dropping completely. “I mean, I’ve never seen her this angry so I guess it could be a little longer but… not any more than a week. At the most.”

Tony nodded a little to the side and kept trying. “I’m not saying that you _are_ wrong so much as that… you could be. And if you are but you’ve been keeping this whole thing a secret, well, what then?”

“I don’t understand,” Peter told him.

“Ok,” Tony rubbed a hand over his face. “If you’re here for… let’s say three weeks, it might be harder to just not be telling Ned what’s going on, right? He’ll probably have started to be a little suspicious by then. I mean, you guys tell each other everything, right? So he’ll notice when you don’t tell him as much because you won’t be able to if you trying to make sure he doesn’t know any of this. So if you finally tell him but it’s been a few weeks already and you’ve been telling white lies along the way, well… then what?”

“Right…” Peter nodded slowly, looking down at his lap and considering what Tony had said. “I mean, I guess I could go ahead and tell him… but I don’t understand why you think I could be here that long. May’s not going to-”

“Boss,” FRIDAY interrupted them suddenly. “Colonel Rhodes is on his way up now.”

“Oh great,” Tony groaned, standing up from his place on the couch. He grunted at a little at the motion, having been there the majority of the day. “What does he want?”

Peter straightened up and looked at the elevator door then up at Tony. “Do I need to go wait in my room or-”

“No, it’s fine,” the older man replied, waving a hand in Peter’s direction. “Rhodey knows you already.”

“Yeah, but-”

The door slid open then and Rhodey walked in. “Well, Tony, I have had the longest day - wait, who’s this?”

“Uh-”

“No, wait,” Rhodey cut Peter off, putting up a finger. “I _do_ know you! Aren’t you Spider-Kid?”

Peter just nodded, not bothering to correct him on the name. He had a feeling he knew it was “Spider-Man” already and Peter just didn’t have the energy to argue with anyone about it just then.”Yeah. Yeah, that’s me.”

“Huh,” Rhodey looked back at Tony. “Are you two going to be done pretty soon?”

Tony looked down at Peter, then back at Rhodey again and asked, “done with what?”

“I don’t know. Whatever you were doing when I came in. Were you working on some suit upgrades or something?”

“Oh, no. We were just talking,” Tony told him. “What did you need?”

Rhodey nodded but looked a little confused. “Uh… yeah. I just came from the compound. Cap had some stuff he wanted you to help look into if you can right now. You don’t have to go anywhere but we’re trying to research some stuff for a mission.”

“I’ll go,” Peter volunteered, jumping up from the couch. He grabbed his backpack and flung it over one shoulder as he left the room, giving Tony a little wave and a smile, mostly to let him know he wasn’t upset at all. “I might call Ned in my room and tell him what’s going on so don’t worry if I’m not back for a while. See ya!”

Tony returned his wave and then gave his attention to Rhodey as Peter left. “So what did Steve want me to do?”

Rhodey stared at his friend incredulously. He didn’t say anything at first and just waited for some kind of explanation but when Tony didn’t offer one himself he decided to just ask. “What was all that, Tony?”

“Well, Peter got sort of kicked out of home so he’s living with me for a while,” Tony shrugged and leaned down to pick up the core of the pear Peter had been eating. “Can you believe he left this on the couch? Who does that?”

Rhodey sighed as he watched Tony walk to the trashcan to throw away Peter’s trash. “How long is a while, Tony? You can’t just keep him.”

“Yeah… I don’t know. He thinks it’ll only be a couple days. I _hope_ it’s only a couple days, obviously. I don’t want him to be completely abandoned. His aunt found out about the whole Spider-Man thing and didn’t take it so well. I would like think she’ll get over it but… I don’t know.”

“Ok,” Rhodey frowned. “So what if she doesn’t? Then what do you do with him?”

“I’ll figure it out then if it happens. I’m just focusing on now and he needs my help.”

Rhodey smiled a little and walked over to the kitchen, helping himself to Tony’s fridge. “Ok then… well, let me know if you need any help with that. You don’t exactly have that much experience with kids, do you?”

“Neither do you, Rhodes,” Tony snorted. “Toss me a bag of blueberries.”

Rhodey took a second to locate the berries and then threw them towards his friend once he had. “Yeah, but I had to deal with you before Iron Man so I feel like I might be a little better prepared to look after a teenager.”

“Hey, Peter is nothing like I was then, ok? Don’t even say that.”

“Tony, relax, man,” Rhodey chuckled. “That’s not what I meant. Just -” He sighed. “Just call me if you or Peter need a hand, ok? And don’t worry; I won’t talk about this with anyone else. I doubt you want all the Avengers to know Spider-Man got kicked out of his house and with living with _you_. Just _imagine_ the reactions…” he snorted a laugh and shut the fridge, having found a few leftover plates he wanted to eat.

“It’s not that funny, Rhodes,” Tony said dryly, tipping his head back a bit and pouring some blueberries into his mouth. “But yeah, definitely don’t tell them yet…”

He remembered telling Peter just a few moments before that telling his friend earlier would be better and maybe he should take his own advice but… no. Rhodey brought up a good point. There would probably be some varying but still fairly equally strong reactions from his superhero friends and he wasn’t really ready to deal with that.

Maybe after it had been a week, he’d tell them what was going on. Maybe. Probably not, in all honesty, but maybe.

“Well, let’s get to work on that Avengers stuff then because I have stuff to do,” Tony said. “I’ll give you, like, two hours. After that I need to keep working on some of my own things. One of my suits isn’t working right and I’ve been trying to fix for a while now and I wanted to get Peter in the lab to work on the eyes for his suit. I have a few ideas.”

“Does he help with that?” Rhodey asked, following his friend to the lab and trying to dump all of his food onto one plate so he could leave the others behind.

“Oh yeah,” Tony nodded. “Peter’s a really smart kid. He helps out a lot. In fact, plenty of the stuff we’ve done for his suit was his idea. He even knows how to do things and not just how to tell me what he wants me to do.” He sent Rhodey a pointed but friendly look.

“Yeah, yeah, ok,” Rhodey grinned. “But it sure sounds like you really like Peter. That’s good, I guess, since he’s staying with you.”

Now that they were in the lab, Tony set down the knee on the closest table and went over to one of his table monitors, taking Rhodey’s list of things the Avengers were asking for. Some of it was just things they needed help researching but there was also a detailed list of requests for their suits and the compound. Tony snorted and set it down on the desk.

“Yeah, well, he wouldn’t be staying with me if I didn’t like him at least a little bit. And he’s really not a problem. He thinks he is, but he isn’t. Like I said, he’s really smart and he’s actually an asset, not just an annoying kid sitting around all the time. He helps out a lot so I figure it’s not going to hurt for him to stay here for a while. You know, he doesn’t just help out with his suit. He’s helped me with plenty of the upgrades you idiots are always asking me for.”

“Wow. That’s impressive. You sure sound impressed,” Rhodey told him, standing behind his chair and just watching him work. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you sounded like his dad or something.”

Tony didn’t say anything to that. He just hummed quietly and stared at his screen, not really acknowledging his friend’s comment. Rhodey knew he’d heard him though, if the way he stilled for a moment was anything to go on. _Interesting_ … Rhodey’s teasing smile grew to a grin and even though Tony couldn’t see it, Rhodey guessed he knew it was there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. So as I said before, I want to try and explain characters and our take on them as I go.
> 
> We're not doing much with Rhodey and Ned, really. Not saying they're exactly like they are in the movies but we're not massively changing them.
> 
> Mary Jane is... different. I'd say she's probably closest to Ultimate Universe Mary Jane but I'm taking inspiration from multiple comic versions of her as well as Zendaya's character in Homecoming. I am not saying she is or isn't Mary Jane but in MY story she is in some ways inspired by what we've seen and heard about her character and as far as visuals, I totally picture her while writing MJ. *shrugs*
> 
> (EDIT) After seeing Homecoming a number of times, I considered changing Mary Jane's name to Michelle in my story... however, I will not be doing that. She will continue to be Mary Jane but I'm still taking inspiration from Michelle in some ways. :) And I'm definitely still picturing her as Zendaya but I'm trying to keep descriptions of her vague enough that if you want to picture her a different way you totally can. :)
> 
> I'm hoping to upload weekly, always on Tuesdays. So hopefully chapter three will be up in one week!
> 
> I love hearing what you think so please let me know in the comments!


	3. Chapter Three

It had been four days.

So far, the hardest thing for Peter had proven to be _not_ letting himself fall down the rabbit hole of his own insecurities and dark thoughts. He felt like every time he was alone he couldn’t help thinking about everything that had happened. 

It was because of this that he spent the majority of his time with someone. At school, he just made sure to hang around Ned and Mary Jane as much as he could. They didn’t have all of their classes together but he took every chance he had to follow one or both of them around. Ned didn’t seem to mind and just saw it as an opportunity to ask him more questions about what it was like to live with Iron Man. 

Ned had been surprisingly ok about the whole Aunt May situation and had assured Peter that he wasn’t saying anything to his mom. It turned out the problem was really more about Mary Jane. Ned seemed to be completely incapable of acting normal around her when he was trying to keep a secret. Maybe it was the way she made you think she was staring right through your eyes and into your soul… it probably made him uncomfortable. But _that_ made Mary Jane suspicious of them both. 

So when he followed her around, she clearly knew there was something going on. He liked to blame Ned for that a little but it could have also been related to the fact that he didn’t usually follow her so closely. But even though she was clearly onto him, she didn’t try to question him or get him to slip up and say anything he didn’t want to, which Peter appreciated. She usually tried to do that and she was a little too good at it. 

Peter suspected it was because she could tell there was actually something bothering him and she didn’t want to make him feel any worse. 

But when he wasn’t at school, he mostly just sat nearby Tony wherever he happened to be in the tower. He wasn’t spending very much time going out as Spider-Man and when he did he always tried to convince Tony to come along. He usually did, which was another thing Peter suspected was being done as a kindness. When he didn’t come, Peter didn’t stay out too long. 

Now that it was Saturday, Peter was trying to decide what he was going to do. He usually spent most of the weekend webslinging but now… he just wasn’t sure it sounded like the best plan. Tony probably wasn’t going to be able to spend the whole weekend catching bad guys with him…

“Hey,” Tony said suddenly, tapping on the door as he opened it. “Did you want to go somewhere with me real quick?” 

“Um… sure?” Peter looked up at him from where he was he sitting on the corner of his bed. 

Tony nodded and started to leave again. “Ok, put on some shoes. We’re going to the compound in five minutes.” 

“Should I bring my suit?” Peter called after him. 

“Only if you want to!” Tony responded, already to his own room. 

-

They got to the compound pretty quickly. They decided to just take one of Tony’s cars and might have reached their destination sooner if Tony hadn’t wanted to stop for cinnamon rolls. 

Peter wasn’t complaining though. 

Ever since the spider bite, Peter wanted and maybe even needed to eat a lot more than before. His aunt didn’t know that though so he usually didn’t eat as much as he really wanted to around her. Tony, on the other hand, understood completely and bought Peter extras without even needing to be asked to do it. 

The drive was uneventful for the most part. At some point, during a moment of silence, Tony decided to put on some music. He turned on his classic rock playlist, making Peter roll his eyes dramatically. 

“Wait, I’m sorry,” Tony lifted a hand and tried to look offended. “Do you not like Black Sabbath? Peter, everyone likes Black Sabbath...?” 

“I don’t even know if it’s fair to call this singing, Tony -”

Tony cut him off by turning up the music almost as loud as he could. 

“Hey!” Peter yelled, hands flying up to cover his ears. “Stop that! _Tony,_ that’s too loud!” His whole body had tensed up and his face had gone pale. 

Remembering the kid’s enhanced senses, Tony realized it was probably even louder to him so he turned it back down to just a background sound. “Sorry,” he smirked a little. “Are you ok?” 

Peter lowered his hands, brown eyes still wide. “That was so childish.” 

Tony had just laughed at that but told Peter that he couldn’t complain about Tony’s music anymore because at least it wasn’t that loud. 

They were still listening to rock music when they pulled up to the compound but Peter had calmed down significantly and apparently didn’t think Tony was going to turn it back up because he kept making little remarks every few songs. Admittedly, he was probably right. He might turn it up a little but Tony wasn’t going to do that to him again. 

“Ok,” Tony started, turning off his car. “We should only be here for a few hours. I just have to talk to a couple of the other Avengers about some stuff. You can just do whatever. Well… not _whatever,”_ he retracted. “But you know what I mean.” 

“Sure,” Peter nodded earnestly. “Am I actually allowed to go past the foyer this time? You never let me do that.” 

“Well, yeah,” Tony shrugged, stepping out of the car and shutting the door behind him. “Just don’t go poking your head behind closed doors or anything.” 

Peter followed him into the building, keeping right at his heels the whole way. He looked at the area like it was new again. He’d never been allowed to really look around and only got to come if he was doing something with Tony and the older man had something he had to do or if he needed him for something and this was where he happened to be. He had actually been in a couple different rooms very briefly but usually was either asked to wait in the foyer or just stay outside. 

He had his suit in his backpack, having decided it would be better to have it just in case, but wasn’t worrying about wearing a mask. After having to come talk to Tony quickly and with no time to bother with his mask or anything, most of the Avengers had seen his face. Ever since then, he hadn’t really been as concerned about it around them. 

Really, Peter had spent hardly any time with the Avengers. He’d seen them around the compound during his few and very brief visits. He’d teamed with a couple of them before and only very briefly but it had happened and that was enough for Peter and for Ned too. 

He mostly saw the other Avengers at the tower if they happened to be there when he showed up or vice versa. 

Even though he didn’t feel that he really _knew_ any of the Avengers aside from Tony, having seen them around for the past few months made it less exciting to be near them and more exciting to just see their building. He’d already seen all of them so that didn’t feel as new or interesting. 

“Tony, you’re here,” someone said. 

Peter turned and saw Captain America standing there. He wasn’t dressed as Captain America. Peter still had a little trouble recognizing some of them outside of their suits but Steve Rogers had been in his history books for years so no problem there. 

Tony and Steve smiled a little awkwardly in greeting. Peter didn’t really know what had happened after the fight in Germany, to be quite honest. He knew it had been complicated after Tony followed Steve and his friend to wherever they’d gone. No one had given him any details about it but he knew it had been bad. 

Really, Tony didn’t talk to Peter about the Avengers very much at all. So even though he knew they’d apparently managed to patch things back together, he didn’t know how. He could tell it wasn’t the same though. Either that or they’d always been uncomfortable around each other. He didn’t know. 

“ _Peter,_ right?” 

_Captain America remembers my name._

“Uh, yes!” Peter answered, glancing at Tony. He looked slightly defensive but like he was trying not to be. 

Steve nodded and looked back at Tony again. “Why exactly is he here? Are you sure that’s smart?” 

Tony bristled at that. “Who cares, Steve? He’s not _doing_ anything.” 

Steve put his hands up and said, “I wasn’t trying to make a problem. I was just curious…”

“Right, well,” Tony trailed off and looked around a little. “We’ve got things to talk about. Where should Peter go?” 

Steve looked surprised at being asked. “Oh, I don’t know. Uh, Bucky’s right outside if you want to send him out there. He’s just cleaning some of his guns, I think. Most of the others are waiting for us in the conference room.” 

Tony nodded but looked a little bitter about it. “Yeah, sure, ok. Peter, I guess you can go watch an old guy clean some guns if you want. Or just crawl on the ceiling or something. It’s up to you.” 

And then Peter was left alone as the two men walked out of the room. He sighed. 

_I guess I could do both…_

And so he did. Luckily, Bucky didn’t seem to mind Peter clinging to the ceiling of the hanger above him as he worked. Peter liked that he didn’t mind since he was just a little bit more comfortable like that. 

-

After about a half hour, Vision and Wanda joined them as well. Vision didn’t really do much, opting to sit on a lawn chair and read a book Peter thought looked boring. Bucky was pretty quiet while he sat cross legged on the ground, his guns spread out in front of him on a large mat. The smell was awful so Peter was glad to have some distance due to being on such a high ceiling. Wanda kept looking back up at Peter and smiling, which was a little disconcerting at first but he figured she just thought he looked funny or something. 

He probably did. 

“So, how long can you stay up there?” Bucky asked, not really yelling but trying to make sure Peter could hear him. 

“I don’t know… I mean, I guess as long as I want to?” Peter answered, crawling around a little bit. “I’ve never really tested that…”

Bucky nodded, setting down the gun he’d just been holding and leaning to pick up another. “You got your powers from a spider, right?” 

“Yep!” 

“So how did you know what you could do?” He tipped his head back and looked up at Peter, who was hanging upside down from a strand of his webbing a couple feet long. “I mean, what made you think to even _try_ climbing on the ceiling?” 

“Well, I was sticking to everything.” 

“And that made you want to stick to the ceiling?” Wanda asked, looking confused. 

Peter laughed. “Well, yeah!” 

Wanda smiled but didn’t say anything else. 

“Ok… but what if it hadn’t worked though?” Bucky questioned, looking up at Peter again with a sly smile. 

Peter tried to shrug but it didn’t work very well upside down. “I guess I would’ve fallen down or something? But I heal pretty fast so I would’ve been ok.” 

“How did you know you would recover faster?” Vision chimed in, putting a finger in his book to hold his place. 

“Yes, what if you that hadn’t been the case?” Wanda nodded at Vision and waited for Peter to answer. 

Peter laughed again, lowering himself down to the ground. “I don’t know. But I think I’m allowed to be a little careless sometimes.” He plopped himself onto the ground next to Bucky, deciding to just ignore the smell. 

“Why is that?” Wanda asked, eyebrows furrowed curiously. 

Peter shrugged and smiled playfully. “Because I’m fifteen. I can just have fun sometimes, even if I do have super powers.” 

“You should have fun all the time,” Bucky suggested. “Like you said, you’re still a kid. Why bother trying to help us stop bad guys? You could just enjoy your powers for now and do that stuff when you’re older.” 

“Except that I _can_ do it now,” Peter countered. “So I should.” 

The soldier nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, that makes sense. A little fun is still good though. But I guess that’s why you hang from the ceiling?” 

“I guess,” Peter shrugged. He leaned forward so his elbow was resting on one knee, his chin cupped in his hand. “Well, I just told you a bunch of stuff so I want to know about your arm.” 

“Alright,” Bucky conceded. “Ask away but just know that I might not have all the answers you’re looking for. ” 

“Why’s that?” 

“Well, first of all, I don’t even know how the old one worked. No one ever told me. And I don’t know how this one works either. They made it and put it on me while I was in cryo so I don’t really know that much about it.” 

“Does it seem different?” Peter stared at it, trying to remember exactly what it looked like in Germany and see if he could find any visual differences. 

Bucky shrugged and looked at it as well. “It feels a little better. I don’t think the scientists at Hydra with that concerned with my comfort… but this is nicer, I think.” 

“Oh!” Peter straightened up excitedly. “I bet if you let him Tony could make it-”

“Stark doesn’t…” Bucky closed his mouth again, trying to think of what to say. Clearly Peter hadn’t really been let in on anything. Really, not many of them had. Bucky could remember an awkward stage in the re-forming of the Avengers where no one really knew what everyone else’s place had been in the whole debacle. It was like everyone wanted to know but didn’t want to ask. So he was pretty sure Peter didn’t know much and he clearly looked up to Tony a lot so Bucky didn’t want to say anything that could cause problems. “He doesn’t really… _like_ me very well. He’s looked at it some though - mostly so he has a general idea of how it works in case he needs to fix something some day.” 

“Why doesn’t he like you though? You seem pretty cool to me…” Peter looked confused and Bucky wished he had a good answer. 

“It’s not… that important. We’re just not really friends,” Bucky shrugged. “Why don’t you ask Vision how my arm works? He knows more than me.” 

So Peter did. Bucky was right, of course, and Vision had enough answers and explanations to keep Peter occupied until Tony came and told him it was time to go. Actually, he had enough answers to keep Peter interested longer than that but Tony didn’t feel like sitting around and talking about the Winter Soldier. He wasn’t exactly mad anymore but he also didn’t want to spend that much time thinking about it. 

“That was so fun!” Peter exclaimed almost as soon as he and Tony had gotten back into the car. “Can we back again sometime?” 

“Well, Natasha mentioned having you spend some time training here but I didn’t know if that was something you’d-”

“Are you serious?” Peter’s jaw dropped. “She actually said that?” 

Tony sighed and smiled at Peter’s enthusiasm. “Yeah, she did. But we’d have to figure some stuff out because you’re not an Avenger so-”

“But if I train with you guys and stuff - and I already team up with the Avengers sometimes - then doesn’t that mean I’m getting closer?” 

Tony turned to look at Peter. He was clearly excited but trying _so hard_ not to start bouncing around the car or something. His eyes were huge and he was sitting on his hands, trying to keep somewhat still. He reminded Tony of puppy sometimes. Unable to hold back a grin at that thought, Tony chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so.” 

“Really?” Peter’s eyes got even wider, surprising Tony a little. “Would you actually let me train there?” 

Tony shrugged thoughtfully, turning back to the road completely. “Well, yeah, I guess. Why not, you know? Just… for now, just don’t go without me, ok?” 

“Of course!” Peter nodded rapidly. Tony nodded too and there were a few moments of silence. Then Peter spoke up again. “Hey, you know how I’m allowed to ask for help for homework but I can’t, like, google it?” 

“Yes…?”

“What if I ask Vision? He’s kind of a person so it wouldn’t be like asking FRIDAY but he’d also know, like, every answer, right? So is that cheating or is it just getting help? I don’t want to be a cheater, obviously, and I’m pretty good at school but I have a few subjects that I just need some help with and he’d be really good to ask. But if you think that counts as cheating then I wouldn’t do it.”

“Why do you even need to ask him though?” Tony scoffed. “I’ll just help you.”

Peter shrugged. “I mean, you have a job though… I don’t want to take up your time.”

“Peter,” Tony cut in. “It’s fine, ok? Any time you need help with homework or Spider-Man or anything… you can always ask me.”

Peter nodded and leaned back in his chair. “Right… so what about when we get back to the tower because I’m having trouble with Spanish…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as far as Civil War... it happened and let's just say they cleared things up and the accords are no longer an issue. Who needs details, right? ;D Basically, that's just not the point of this story so we didn't worry about it too much. Like this chapter says, Peter kinda knows the Avengers but he hasn't spent that much time around him. 
> 
> Next chapter in a week! ;D


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a little early but I thought I'd go ahead and post this now... I might just post on Mondays instead of Tuesdays moving forward. We'll see. :)

Two weeks.

It had been two weeks but it somehow felt like only a day and yet a whole year at the same time.

To put it simply, Tony and Peter worked well together. They just seemed to get each other. While it had been a little weird to think about at first, both of them had gotten to the point where they were completely comfortable living together in the tower.

Ned had almost stopped asking about it, though he insisted that he had to come have a sleepover. Peter disagreed with that statement.

Really, the only roadblock that kept them from being entirely contented was Aunt May. They both kept going back to her in their own minds, though they didn’t talk about it at all. It had become almost an unspoken rule not to mention it.

Honestly, the only time May came up in conversation was the nights that Tony had to wake Peter up from a nightmare. He was more vulnerable and open then, which made Tony a little skeptical of how happy he really was during the day. Now that he knew some of what haunted Peter’s thoughts, he was fairly certain those feelings were present more often than the kid let on.

He knew he was scared his aunt would never want him back, he knew that he was still terrified of Norman Osborn and couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened, and he knew that he was blaming himself for his uncle dying. As much as Tony hated to hear all of those things though, the thing that hurt most when Peter was sobbing into his chest was how guilty he was about still being there. It seemed like even as he got more comfortable in the tower, he felt worse as well.

It didn’t seem to matter how many times Tony reassured him that he was more than welcome there or that none of Tony’s own problems were any fault of his. Every time Tony thought Peter got it, he’d cry about it again that night and sound even more disheartened.

And every time, Tony felt more and more like a failure. Clearly, his attempts to make Peter feel comforted were only making him feel remorseful instead and Tony didn’t know how to fix it.

Tony knew that Peter still felt guilty about May.

As if _he’d_ been the one at fault… as if he’d deserved the things she’d said.

It just wasn’t ok with Tony. He had been trying his hardest to stay out of it, aside from letting Peter stay with him, but it had been two full weeks with no word from May and he’d finally had enough.

He could tell even during the day when they didn’t talk about it that Peter was still waiting for his aunt to show up or call him or anything. He was telling himself she would but Tony knew that if Peter would just be honest himself… he’d see it.

May wasn’t going to call. She had made her choice and as wrong as it was… she wasn’t going back.

So when Peter got home that day, Tony was waiting on the couch and going through the speech he’d been planning all day. He had known exactly what he was going to say and then Peter finally showed up and Tony forgot every last word.

“Hey, Tony!” Peter grinned, stumbling a little as he kicked off his shoes on the way in. He had stopped worrying about putting his shoes away when he’d realized that Dum-E would just pick them up for him. _Apparently_ , Dum-E was really supposed to stay in the workshop but after Tony had put him in the living room for a day for being annoying he had decided he could go anywhere he liked. Peter was pretty sure that story wasn’t entirely true since it couldn’t be that hard to just reprogram him or something so he wouldn’t want to leave the workshop but he didn’t argue it.

“Peter!” Tony gave him a practiced welcoming smile. If Peter noticed, he didn’t say anything.

“Ned and I were talking about my webs and we had this crazy idea-”

“Yeah, I need to talk to you,” Tony interrupted firmly. Peter frowned and came to sit by him, pulling his legs up and crossing them.

“Ok. What’s going on?”

Tony grimaced. “Uh… nothing.”

Peter only looked at him, just looking more confused.

“That’s sort of the problem, I guess…” He took a minute to breathe, trying to regather his prepared thoughts. “Look, kid, nothing’s moving forward. I feel like we’re stuck.”

“Um… what are you referring to?” Peter bit his lip awkwardly. “I’m sorry, Tony. I’m trying to understand and I just -”

“No, it’s fine,” Tony waved his apology off, not wanting to hear anymore of those. “I’m talking about you...living here.”

Peter froze. “Oh. Right… do you… I can leave! It’s fine. I know it’s been longer than we thought -”

“ _You,_ ” Tony cut in again. He felt bad about not letting Peter get much in but he had to keep moving in the conversation. “ _You_ thought. Because, Peter, I never thought that. I _hoped_ , sure, for your sake but… Peter, she’s not coming back.”

Peter’s face fell, changing to something Tony couldn’t read. Really, Peter had known it all along but Tony figured that actually hearing it said right to his face was a bit of a shocking blow. His eyes got shiny and Tony wished he could go back and say it more gently at _least_. Anything to prevent the lost expression now starting to show on Peter’s face.

“That’s not true,” Peter breathed, his voice breaking in that way that means you’re about to cry. He shook his head just barely. “Why would you say that?”

Tony closed his eyes and massaged his temples for a minute, completely unsure how to proceed. “I’m not… geez, I’m not lying to you, ok? I just… I don’t want you to keep holding onto this and telling yourself she’ll come back because she _just won’t._ And I’m sorry! I really am. I don’t _want_ her to abandon you and if I could make her change her mind, I would! But, Peter, I can’t do that and _you_ can’t do that. No one can.” At this point, there were tears trailing down Peter’s cheeks and his breathing was speeding up. He hadn’t spoken yet, though Tony thought it might be because Tony wasn’t _stopping_. “And I swear I’m not saying this for no reason! It’s just that you can’t go on in your life believing that you’re going to be able to go back to her and neither can I. Where else are you going to go but here? Nowhere! So we both need to figure out how we’re going to go forward, ok? We’re not going to just pretend it’s not happening. Life is gonna keep going and we need to have a plan so we can keep up.”

“Stop,” Peter said, gritting his teeth and frustratedly wiping away his tears. “ _Don’t_ say that. She’s my aunt and we’ve been together almost as long as I can remember and she’s not going to abandon me.”

“No, because she already did that,” Tony bit back, instantly regretting how harshly he’d said it when he saw Peter’s face contort in a mixture of anger and heartbreak.

“No, you know what, you don’t know,” Peter told him accusingly. “You don’t know her and maybe you don’t know me as well as you thought because-”

“ _Peter_ ,” Tony tried, before Peter stopped him with more words of his own.

“Stop doing that! You can’t just not let me talk and expect me to sit here and _let_ you, Mr. Stark-”

Tony glared at the teenager but felt inside like someone was squeezing a hand around his heart. “Don’t do that,” he said quietly. _Don’t shut me out, Peter. Don’t close yourself off._

“ _You,_ don’t!” Peter cried, standing up suddenly. “Don’t try and tell me anything about my aunt. You don’t know! I don’t care who you are, you _don’t know_!”

“She doesn’t want you anymore, Peter,” Tony argued, staying in his place on the couch. “You can go ask her yourself if that’s what you want but I know I’m right about this. I only want to help you so can you please-”

Peter stepped back from him, squaring his shoulders and drying his cheeks again with the sleeves of his sweater. “I’m going to. I’ll go talk to her and she’ll understand this time. You just don’t know her, ok?”

And then he left.

Tony felt more helpless than he had in a long time.

-

Peter leaned against the wall across from the Parker apartment. He had been standing there for nearly an hour, knocking periodically. He had tried to tell himself that maybe she wasn’t at home but that was when he realized that everything Tony had said was true.

Peter had been deceiving himself for the past two weeks and he wasn’t going to do it any longer. He wasn’t going to let himself buy into his lies anymore. May was in there and he knew that because he had heard her come to the door the first time he’d knocked. He’d heard her lean against the door to look out the peephole. He’d heard her walk away…

She had seen him there and walked away. Again. Just like Tony said.

He didn’t go home right away after that. He needed to clear his head.

Apparently, there was a lot going on around Queens. Peter couldn’t help feeling a little bit guilty about it. He hadn’t really been spending _that_ much of his time as Spider-Man lately and when he did go out… it wasn’t just Queens anymore.

It made sense because the tower wasn’t in Queens so neither was Peter. And therefore, neither was Spider-man. But he wished he had made more of an effort to just swing out a little further. And it was really a part of why he hadn’t gone out as much. He _knew_ Queens and was still getting used to everything else. It was a little overwhelming.

But now, since he was already there anyway, he spent the evening trying to stop any little crime he came across in Queens. There was a lot happening and he was trying not blame himself but he couldn’t _not_ wonder if having Spider-Man sort of disappear had made a difference.

And that was why he stayed in Queens until nearly 3 in the morning.

There was a part of him that had decided that he had to stop as much as he possibly could before he was allowed to go back and sleep. If there was a chance that this was his fault, he felt responsible to fix it.

And really, even if he didn’t quite feel like admitting it, he was angry and wanted to punch things. Creepy guys trying to steal old ladies’ purses sounded like pretty good punching bags to him.

It was only once he accidently broke one of their noses that he finally decided to head back to the tower. The sickening crunch under his fist was like a rude awakening that reminded him of the fact that it was well past midnight on a school night and Tony would probably be waiting for him.

_Great._

He was right, of course. Really, the agonizing bit was that when Peter got there, Tony was nowhere to be seen. He’d expected to walk into him on the couch again. But he wasn’t there and Peter had a brief moment of calm. Maybe he had just gone to bed?

But no. Of course not because nothing could ever be that simple for Peter Parker, could it?

He had pulled off his mask already and left his backpack on the couch. He was too tired to worry about anything and just wanted to go to bed. But the door to his room was cracked open and Peter had a vague idea of what he was going to find before he even went in.

Sure enough, _that_ was where Tony had decided to wait.

“Oh, so you were planning to come back then,” Tony said from the edge of the bed. His voice was calm but Peter was pretty sure he wasn’t actually that ok. “Why didn’t you answer a single one of my calls?”

Peter opened his mouth but no words came out. Instead, he just shrugged and shook his head a little.

“I was worried,” Tony told him quietly. It wasn’t something he usually said. Peter could tell when Tony had been worried but he didn’t say the words.

So now Peter was worried too.

“Maybe I just… I wasn’t paying enough attention.” Peter shrugged again.

“ _Maybe?_ ” Tony repeated, narrowing his eyes. “What, you don’t know?”

“No, I… I do know, ok? I was distracted.”

Tony nodded and gestured to Peter’s suit. “With this? All night?”

Peter scoffed. “Well, yeah, actually. I was helping people! What’s so wrong with that? I used to stay out later than this as Spider-Man, like, every night.”

“You can’t do that, Peter,” Tony stood up and took a few steps closer to him but he didn’t seem too angry. “It’s not good for you. And if you’re gonna do it, you can’t just not answer your phone.”

“What are you even doing right now?” Peter questioned. “Why do you care what I do? I’m sorry I didn’t answer and I’ll pay more attention next time. Ok? Is that what you wanted to hear or… no, I know what you wanted. You wanted me to admit you were right, yeah? Ok. You _were_. She wouldn’t even talk to me and Tony Stark was right. Are you happy now? You can go back to your room and we can both just go to sleep and forget this ever happened, right?”

“What?”

“You got what you wanted, just-”

“Shut up,” Tony snapped, surprising them both a little. “That’s not what I wanted and I think we both know that so just stop.”

Apparently left with nothing to say, he did stop. He couldn’t even look at Tony anymore, opting to stare at the floor instead.

“You’re mad and you need to take it out on someone,” Tony sighed. “I get that, believe me. But can you please just try and let me help you? I _want_ to. If you’re going to be here, which it looks like you are, then we need to figure this kind of thing out. It’s what I was trying to say before. And this is the beginning of that. No more staying out ‘till all hours and ignoring me. Just work with me and _let me help._ ”

Peter tried to hold back a sort of choked sob and failed completely.

Tony moved forward and pulled Peter to his chest, closing the space between them. Peter froze against him. Tony had gotten a lot more comfortable with letting Peter hug him but he almost never initiated it.

Just before Tony was about to give up and let go, Peter’s arms snaked around him and linked together. He pressed his face into Tony’s Black Sabbath t-shirt and started sobbing some more.

“Ok…” Tony sighed, bringing a hand up to hold the back of Peter’s head. “We don’t have to talk about it right now, ok?”

“Tony,” Peter gasped, trying to pull himself even closer. “Why?”

“Why what?” Tony responded against Peter’s hair. The teenager only tightened his grip. “C’mon, Peter, just say it. You already started…”

Peter sobbed again. “Why doesn’t she want me anymore? Did she really… did she never want me?”

Tony sighed again and held Peter’s shoulders, breaking their hug. “Look, I’m not trying to be unkind right now and you to know that but… if she doesn’t want you then she’s an idiot and not even worth your time, ok?”

Peter shook his head, trying to squirm out of Tony’s hold on his shoulders. “No, you don’t understand! I must’ve done something more than just lie because I don’t know why she would hate me this much after two weeks if that was all so what did I do? What’s wrong with me?”

“Peter, I _do_ understand and that’s what I’m trying to say,” Tony insisted, refusing to let go. “You are not the problem. _She_ is. It doesn’t matter what she wanted, she _got you_. She screwed that up. Don’t let yourself grow up thinking that’s your fault.”

Sighing defeatedly, Peter finally stopped fighting against Tony.

“Let’s just go to the kitchen and eat some ice cream, ok?” Tony suggested and Peter nodded quietly. It looked like he was trying to smile but couldn’t quite get his mouth to cooperate.

Normally, Peter waited on a bar stool or the couch while Tony got the ice cream. This time, he followed him just closely enough that Tony might’ve gotten annoyed any other time.

“Peanut butter ok?” Tony asked. He waited until he heard Peter’s small “yeah” and then passed it back over his shoulder. He got himself some white chocolate raspberry and led Peter over to the couch.

Once again, Peter sat closer to Tony than he normally would’ve let him. But deep down, he didn’t really mind anyway.

“Tony, I’m really s-”

“If you were about to say ‘sorry’ again, just don’t, ok?” Tony cut him off.

Peter turned his head to look at him, resting his cheek against the back cushions of the couch. “I was gonna say scared.”

“Why’s that?” Tony asked him, looking at his ice cream rather than at Peter’s face.

“I don’t know…” Peter closed his eyes. He was holding his ice cream but still hadn’t even opened it. “I guess that’s why. I hate not knowing things…”

Tony spooned a large amount of ice cream into his mouth and sighed heavily. “You’re not alone there, you know.”

Peter nodded sluggishly and tipped his head forward so that his forehead was resting against Tony’s shoulder. “Still hate it though…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little short but the chapter next week is definitely longer! :) I can't think of anything specific to explain in the note for this chapter but I'm happy to clear up anything you're wondering about in the comments!


	5. Chapter Five

The Avengers sat in an awkward silence around their conference room table.

They’d been in the middle of a meeting when Tony’s phone had gone off, interrupting Steve’s briefing with a loud ringtone that made Steve want to slam his head onto the desk.

Normally, if someone’s phone went off they would silence it, maybe offer a quick apology, and then they’d all continue like nothing had happened. The only time they really made exceptions to that would be if it was an actual emergency or was maybe involved with the Avengers.

This time, the second Tony had heard the tone he had excused himself and stepped to the back of the room. They could all tell it wasn’t an emergency from the casual tone of his voice.

He was only on the phone for a moment and although he was trying not listen in, Steve was pretty sure he’d heard something about picking up orange juice on the way home.

“Sorry, guys.” Tony smiled as he slid back into his seat, putting his phone back into his pocket. “Dad Phone. I can’t really just not answer. You know how it is, right, Clint?”

Everyone stared at him blankly. Clint was the first one to finally speak up.

“Tony… what are you talking about? What’s a ‘Dad Phone’?”

“Oh, it’s just this thing we came up with,” Tony said, pulling it back out so they could see. “Basically, it’s a burner phone and it’s just so we’ll know not to ignore it. Pretty straight forward.”

Bruce leaned forward a little. He looked concerned. “Tony… you’re not a dad.”

Tony glanced at Rhodey, who was just smirking to himself a few seats down. He knew pretty much all of the details with the situation with Peter. Even though he still seemed a little worried, Tony was pretty sure he was ok with the idea now.

“Sure, but can we wrap this up pretty quickly because I need to get back to the tower soon,” Tony smiled playfully, loving the confused looks on his teammates’ faces, and waited for the meeting to be over.

“You know, Tony,” Rhodey said as they left the compound together. Tony was giving Rhodey a ride and they figured he’d probably just stick around for dinner. “They’re not completely brainless. The more you mess with them like that, the closer they’re going to get to figuring out what’s going on with you.”

“I’m sorry, what exactly is ‘going with me’?” Tony questioned, flashing his friend a smile over the top of the car as he opened the door. “Because I’m not aware of anything.”

“C’mon, man,” Rhodey laughed, sliding into his seat and sighing pleasantly at the relief it gave his legs. “You can’t keep him a secret forever and he’s been living with you for nearly a month.”

“Three weeks,” Tony corrected, pulling away from the Avengers’ building.

“Yeah, like I said, ‘nearly a month’. And you’re not exactly planning on his aunt changing her mind, are you?”

Tony scoffed. “No, but who cares? It’s not a big deal and they’re not going to figure anything out because there’s nothing _to_ figure out.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Rhodey grinned at him. “And you know, here’s another thing… you and Peter have been spending more time with us this past week. What if Peter says something? Does he know he’s a secret?”

“ _Peter_ is not a secret. Just where he lives right now,” Tony argued. “And yeah, he knows we’re not broadcasting that. Peter’s mostly good at keeping secrets.”

-

“Hey, Tony!” They heard Peter shout from the kitchen when the elevator doors opened. “I was getting pretty hungry and I didn’t know when you were going to get back so I just got out some mac and cheese. Do you want me to add another box so you can have some too or - oh hey, Rhodey!”

Peter grinned and waved at the two men as they walked into the room. He was standing by the stove and had apparently just started making a box of the macaroni. Tony had bought a large stockpile of it for days when he wasn’t around and Peter didn’t know what else to eat or for when they were just too busy for much else. They were going through it a little faster than they’d intended to.

“If you guys want some of this, you’ll have to tell me now so I can add it in. If I wait too long, it won’t cook evenly,” Peter said.

“Yeah, sure,” Rhodey said, sitting down on one of the barstools. “Throw in a couple more boxes.”

“I’ll just make four total. They’re not very big and I could easily eat two by myself if I wanted to,” Peter told him, going to grab a few more boxes.

“Well, that’s true,” Tony chimed in, walking over to his minibar and finding something to drink. “I might’ve said three.”

“Yeah, well, I have spider powers _and_ I’m a growing teen so I think I can be forgiven,” Peter smirked, emptying the other boxes into the pot.

“Peter,” Rhodey sighed, folding his hands on the countertop. “ _No one_ needs to eat that much pasta and artificial cheese.”

Peter grinned and leaned back from the stove, waiting for it to boil. “I never said I needed to.”

“That’s true, you know,” Tony agreed, sitting next to Rhodey and setting his drink down. Peter snuck a glance at the bottle and was glad to see it was only soda. Peter had noticed that Tony always drank more when he was stressed or just upset and no matter how much he told Peter it didn’t matter, Peter knew that having a kid around was stressful and he just wanted to make sure he wasn’t too much of a problem.

“Are we going to eat fruit with this or not today?” Peter asked, tearing his eyes off of Tony’s soda.

Both men started to answer at the same time.

“We probably should-”

“I don’t want any-”

Peter laughed and took out a bowl of strawberries he’d picked up with the orange juice. “Just eat them if you want to, ok?”

“Yeah, but _you_ have to though,” Rhodey told Peter.

“Well,” Tony scoffed, smacking his friend’s arm. “Who says? I’m in charge of him, not you.”

“Agent Barton, Dr. Banner, and Captain Rogers are in the elevator now, boss,” FRIDAY said before anyone could respond to Tony.

“What are they doing here?” Peter asked as Tony jumped off the stool and grabbed Peter’s backpack from the table.

“I don’t know. C’mon,” Tony grabbed Peter’s arm and dragged him out of the kitchen.

“Aw, come on, Tony,” Peter protested but didn’t try and stop himself from pulled across the room. “Not this again. Are you serious?”

Rhodey followed them, a completely dumbfounded look on his face. “Tony, what is going on right now?” His tone said he didn’t really want to know.

“They’re only a few floors away now, boss,” FRIDAY informed Tony.

He pulled open the door to the supply closet and turned on the light. “Rhodey, throw me some pillows,” he said, tossing Peter’s backpack in and letting go of his arm.

“Uh… ok.” Rhodey sighed but did as he was told anyway, grabbing some couch pillows and just tossing them through the door past Tony.

Peter crossed his arms indignantly. “You know, Tony, I just think -”

“I don’t really care,” Tony interrupted, offering him a teasing grin and shoving him into the closet, closing the door immediately after. “Now, just keep quiet until I let you out, ok?”

“Yeah, but what about the macaroni though?” Peter said through the door.

“Don’t worry about - oh hi! Didn’t we just see you guys?” Tony was walking away from the closet then and Peter sighed quietly, deciding to just make the best of the situation.

He moved the pillows to a position that seemed semi comfortable and sat down. Luckily, his backpack was already unzipped so he didn’t have to worry about the sound of the zipper. He slowly pulled a few school books out and set them on the floor, opening up his chemistry notes so he could work on study questions. He was finishing up the last week of school and had exams to study for so he figured he’d get that done.

The trouble was mostly just being sure to flip each page slowly and quietly, not wanting anyone to hear noises and then notice the light coming out from the closet. That seemed weird and would be hard to explain. Probably harder to explain than just why Peter was there making mac and cheese but… who was Peter to judge Tony’s decisions, really?

The three Avengers ended up being there for almost three hours. Peter thought he heard them all leave the room at some point but he didn’t want to risk coming out just as they walked back in or something so he stayed put.

When Tony finally shouted for Peter to come out and eat some now cold mac and cheese, which Rhodey had finished making and painstakingly protected from Hawkeye, he didn’t come out from the closet. After calling his name again, still to no answer, Tony went to open the door himself.

At some point, Peter had turned out the light and curled up around one pillow with his head on another. He was out cold and Tony wasn’t sure if he should move him or leave him there. He didn’t look too uncomfortable there but Tony didn’t really like the idea of him sleeping on a pile of homework in a closet.

“Just pick him up and put him on the couch,” Rhodey advised, looking over his friend’s shoulder. “I’ll heat the mac and cheese back up and maybe we can watch some tv or something.”

Tony nodded, stepping into the closet and trying not to step on Peter. “Yeah, ok. I should probably stop shoving him in here, huh?”

Rhodey, who was already heading back to the kitchen, turned to look at Tony again. He had just lifted Peter from the ground and was making his way back out of the small closet. “How often do you do that to him?”

Tony shrugged a little but tried to not move enough to disturb Peter. “Well, not often! Geez, Rhodey, I’m not abusive. It’s just happened a couple of times already.”

“Well, Tony, all I’m saying is that the sooner you tell them… the sooner you can stop pushing Peter in closets.” He couldn’t keep a small smile off his face when he saw the way Peter buried his face sleepily against Tony’s neck. He really was small. Rhodey wasn’t sure but he didn’t think a fifteen year old should be quite so easy for someone to carry.

“Yeah, I know, it’s just…” Tony trailed off, setting Peter down on the couch and brushing his hair out of his eyes before walking back over to the kitchen. “Well, you know.”

“No, I really don’t,” Rhodey responded, not looking at Tony while he stirred the pasta.

Tony sighed and picked up his now flat soda, sipping a little before grimacing and putting it back down. “I don’t want them to know about Peter.”

That was when Rhodey looked up at him. “Well, why not? We already all know him and we know you… what’s so bad about knowing he lives with you?”

He shrugged a little and leaned forward, his arms folded on the countertop. “I don’t mind it so much with you because you’re my best friend and you’re just helping and that’s it but… I don’t want all of the Avengers getting up in our business and trying to judge the way we live and do things. That’s just not… I know I mess up sometimes but I don’t want a huge group of people watching every time and especially not when Peter is involved because then he’ll get pulled into everything.”

Rhodey was silent for a little while. Tony was starting to gear up to defend himself when Rhodey finally responded. “That makes sense.”

“Really?” Tony’s voice was doubtful.

“Yeah, but… it doesn’t mean you’re right, you know? It’s ok for now because you guys are just figuring things out but the longer you go like this, the harder it’ll be to explain. That’s all I’m gonna say.”

Tony didn’t say anything after that. Rhodey’s words reminded Tony of the advice he’d given Peter about telling Ned.

He looked back over his shoulder at Peter. He had odd pink lines on his face from the creases in some papers he’d accidentally fallen asleep on and his hair was sticking up in all different directions. It probably hadn’t been comfortable, being in the closet for three hours. Tony knew he wouldn’t want to be in there that long or probably even at all.

Maybe Rhodey was right. Maybe he should tell.

Or maybe he and Peter could just think of a better solution for next time.

-

“It’s just that I feel like I’m a lot of work, even when I’m trying not to be,” Peter explained to Ned, trying to keep his voice down. They were sitting in the cafeteria on the last day of school. The other students were being loud enough that he probably didn’t have to worry but it was sort of a habit. “And I really am trying, Ned, because I don’t want to be a burden, you know?”

Ned nodded thoughtfully, stirring his plastic fork through his food. “Yeah, I get it… I just think you might be overreacting though. Because I just feel like Tony’s probably fine with you being around or he wouldn’t let you be there. He doesn’t exactly strike me as the kind of guy who wouldn’t just tell you to go away if he wanted you to.”

Peter shrugged. “I mean, I guess… I don’t know, Ned. I just worry. You know I worry.”

“Yeah, I do know that,” Ned laughed a little. “But _you_ know that you need to stop worrying so much.”

“But sometimes worrying can be good,” Peter pointed out. “So how do I know if it’s bad worrying or good worrying? What if I stop worrying and it turns out I should’ve been worrying?”

“So, what you’re saying is that you’re worried about worrying?” Mary Jane cut in, setting down her book. Peter had been hoping that she’d been so engrossed in her massive novel that she wouldn’t be paying attention to their conversation. Apparently he was wrong.

“Yeah, that seems to be the situation,” Ned chirped, taking a huge bite of his chicken sandwich.

Mary Jane nodded and stared at Peter, narrowing her eyes. “Tony who?”

Peter deflated a little at that and sent a little glare Ned’s way, even though he wasn’t looking. “You don’t know him.”

“Tony Stark?” She questioned, seemingly trying to bore into his innermost thoughts with her eyes. Peter wondered if she could still do it if he closed his eyes… “You spend a lot of your free time with him, don’t you?”

“No…” Peter tried to look confused but maybe he looked like he was dying. Because that was how he felt. “Why would you think that?”

“Because you’re always talking about him when you think I’m not listening and I’ve noticed you always walk home in the direction of his tower now instead of your apartment, which means you go there after school.”

“Mary Jane… can you not?”

She smirked triumphantly. “Not what? Not be good at figuring you out? Not listen into your conversations when I’m sitting directly across the table from you and Ned? Peter,” she leaned forward so that she was closer to Peter, who leaned forward instinctively when he saw her doing it. “Just remember that I’m always listening.”

“Yeah, I know,” Peter grimaced. “I just always hope you’ve stopped.”

“I haven’t,” Mary Jane smiled. It was a playful smile that he didn’t see very often. He liked it more than her soul searching stares, though he supposed he didn’t entirely hate those either. When she used her playful smile, her nose scrunched up and her eyes twinkled and you’d never guess she could stare through your eyes and into her brain.

They both leaned back and Peter looked over at Ned, who was smirking at him very annoyingly. He kicked him under the table.

“I’m going to figure out what you’re doing, Peter,” Mary Jane warned, still seemingly playful but he was starting to doubt it. “It’ll be easier for you if you tell me.”

“Easier for _me_?”

She nodded and her smile turned into that one that made him feel like he knew all his secrets. “Yeah.”

-

All in all, Peter’s last day of school wasn’t too bad.

His classes went relatively well and he didn’t have to skip out to take care of any Spider-Man related business. It was something he had noticed was happening a lot less since he’d started getting to know the Avengers. They didn’t really deal with the little things like he did until they rebanded. Now, even though it was still kind of his thing, some of them would go make some quick rounds through the city every now and then. It made Peter feel a lot more relaxed and he knew that any time there was something happening and he didn’t think he could get there all he had to do was text Tony. Even if Tony was busy, he would contact the Avengers and someone would take care of it.

He felt bad about the fact that it was really just New York. If there was something big happening, any number of them could leave to take care of something somewhere else. But as far as the small things like muggings or bank robberies went, not very many locations got to have superheroes. But there wasn’t anything Peter could do about that.

Ned had only brought up his “End of summer Sleepover at the Tower” idea three times in the whole day. He’d been averaging a dozen mentions a day that week so Peter thought of three as a win for him. Of course, Peter would’ve liked to say yes but he wasn’t going to ask Tony about it, as fun as it really would’ve been.

Mary Jane had mostly stopped bothering him after lunch. She seemed to have accepted that he wasn’t going to tell her anything and had decided to give him a break at least for the rest of the day. Peter was pretty sure she’d be back at it again soon enough.

But for now, as they walked together in the hall near the end of school, she wasn’t saying anything about Tony or Peter being suspicious or any of the things she’d been saying all year.

Peter realized that this month marked a year of having his spider powers. He was pretty proud of the fact that he’d kept it from Mary Jane even that long.

“So, Peter, what are you doing this summer?” Mary Jane asked when they got to his locker. She shoved the novel she was reading into her messenger back and reached back to retie her ponytail.

“Uh, I don’t really know,” Peter shrugged, opening his locker and taking out the few books and loose pencils he still had there. He’d mostly cleaned it out already earlier in the week so there wasn’t much to get. “What about you?”

“Well, I’ve been playing with idea of writing a book but I don’t know. It probably wouldn’t be as good as any of what I like to read so I might not bother,” she told him, leaning back against the locker next to him. “And I don’t know how to write a book anyway. That and my mom thinks we should go on a road trip or something so I guess it all depends.”

“You could write a book while you’re on a road trip though,” Peter pointed out.

“Maybe…” she shrugged, tugging at the strap of her messenger bag. “So does your aunt have any plans or something? She likes to go on little trips, right?”

Peter didn’t answer. He focused on trying to make putting three books into his backpack one of the most tedious things he’d ever done and a task that required all of his attention.

“Doesn’t she usually take you to a science fair? Are you guys going to do that?”

“Um… no,” Peter mumbled, chewing on his bottom lip and trying to slow down his breathing. “We’re not going to do anything this year.”

Really, they probably wouldn’t have even if he had been with her. Just as it was a year since he’d gotten his powers, it was a year since his uncle had died. May probably didn’t feel up to making any plans this season anyway.

Peter took a steadying breath and looked at Mary Jane as he closed his locker suddenly, making them both jump a little. “Listen, I don’t really -”

“Parker!” A voice behind him shouted suddenly. Peter turned to face whoever it was and was met with a face full of water. He gasped as what felt like a wave of memories hit him with the contents of someone’s water bottle.

“Flash!” He heard Mary Jane yell. _Well, who else could it have been?_ “What is wrong with you? That is so immature. I can’t even believe you right now!”

Her scolding comments were only met with laughter from Flash and his friends as Peter tried to dry his eyes and ignore the stinging sensation.

He was fine. It was _just_ water.

“Peter? Oh my gosh, _Peter!_ ”

He’d thought he was ok until he realized how distant and worried Mary Jane’s voice was. He kept trying to make himself breathe and grabbed clumsily at her arms, trying to block out the people looking at him. “MJ, please get me out of here.”

He wasn’t sure if his voice sounded as choked and desperate as it felt but it probably did since he felt like he wasn’t breathing the way he knew he should’ve been.

Mary Jane nodded, picking his backpack up off the ground and flinging it over her shoulder, pulling him outside to the front of the school. She lead him just past the entrance so that they were out of the way in case anyone came out.

“Peter, why aren’t you breathing? Are you choking or something?”

Peter shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the flashes of an insane face showing up in his mind. He wasn’t there and Peter was fine.

“Well, d-did you inhale when he threw the water or… Peter, what do I do?”

“I-I’m sorry!” Peter coughed, covering his face with his hands and trying not to let himself start crying. “I’m trying…”

Mary Jane moaned frustratedly. “Don’t be sorry! I just want to help, I’m not trying to make you feel bad!”

Peter didn’t say anything. He wasn’t really sure he could get any words past his painful gasps.

“Can I take you to the nurse? Is that ok?” Mary Jane questioned him. When she didn’t get an answer out of him, she just pulled him forward and started back towards the building, deciding to use a side door to avoid the other students as much as they could. “Ok, we’re going to the nurse. Just _please_ breathe!”

Peter hated himself a bit in his current situation.

First, he had embarrassed himself in front of everyone in the hall by not only getting splashed in the face but having a full on panic attack over it. He couldn’t wait to hear what Flash had to say about it.

Now he was freaking out in front of Mary Jane and she clearly thought she had to deal with it. So he felt guilty on top of the embarrassment. And what was he supposed to say to the nurse, assuming he could even talk at all? He couldn’t explain why he had reacted that way.

And the day had started out so well too…

Mary Jane managed to get Peter to the nurse even though he was barely even aware of what was happening around him. He was still beating himself up inside while trying not to think about Norman Osborn and utterly failing.

And at the same time, he was trying to remember how to breathe.

“What happened?” The nurse asked, coming over to where Peter and Mary Jane were standing, her arm wrapped tightly around his shoulders in an attempt to keep him upright. The nurse moved Mary Jane away from Peter and led him to a chair.

“I don’t know,” Mary Jane admitted helplessly. “We were getting ready to leave since school is almost out and then Flash Thompson threw water in his face and… I don’t know. I tried to help but I think he’s upset at me. I think I was making it all worse so I brought him here instead.”

Peter made himself look up at her and saw that she was looking at him with a more worried look than he thought he’d ever seen on her face. He wanted to tell her she hadn’t made anything worse at all but couldn’t get the words out. He just slammed his head back against the wall and groaned.

The nurse sighed and looked at Peter, just watching his struggle to calm down and breathe. “All right. Let me call his parents. No... Peter lives with his aunt, doesn’t he?”

Mary Jane nodded and Peter wanted to curl up and die. He felt like everything was starting to close in on him and nothing he did could stop it. It was like every movement and sound around him was working together to stop his breathing.

His eyes were burning and he could feel his throat closing up the way it does when you’re holding back tears.

“Yes, hello,” the nurse said into the phone. “Is this May Parker? I’m calling from Peter’s school. There’s a - oh. Oh, I see… yes, just let me get some paper to write it down. All right, go ahead…”

Peter glanced at Mary Jane and saw her looking at the nurse with a puzzled expression on her face. Clearly, she was trying to understand what this conversation was. But Peter knew.

“Just hold on, Peter,” the nurse said, looking back at him for a moment before dialing a different number. Tony’s. Peter wondered if she knew that yet.

There was no answer so with another worried glance in Peter’s direction, she tried again. Still no answer.

Peter flinched a little when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see Mary Jane standing on her knees in front of him. She looked a little scared.

“Peter, don’t worry, they’ll be here soon.”

So she still didn’t know then.

“I’m sorry,” the nurse said, cutting in before Peter could try to make himself say something. “But I need you try and talk. Your aunt gave me a different number to call and I’ve tried it three times with no answer. I need you to give me another number.”

Peter gasped a few times and tried to nod, wondering if it looked like a nod or just some kind of hysteric movement because he really wasn’t sure. “I-I…” he gasped again, getting more and more agitated at his lack of air. “I…”

“Calm down,” Mary Jane said. “You’re ok. Just try to slow down. You’re fine. Right?”

Peter wet his lips and tried again. “I have a -” he coughed. “Just hold on.” His words sounded choked and broken and he hated it. He fumbled around in his pocket, trying to find his burner phone. He thought he remembered Tony saying he was going to go to the compound so he was probably in the conference room with his phone off. But Peter knew he would answer the Dad Phone.

He got the phone and held it out to the nurse, shaking his hand impatiently when she didn’t take it right away.

“Uh, all right then…” the nurse flipped the phone open. “Whose name should I - oh. There’s only one. Ok.”

Peter turned back to Mary Jane while the phone rang. All he wanted was to curl in on himself.

“Peter, what is it?” Mary Jane asked him. He was pretty sure this was the longest she had ever gone without making sarcastic comments or trying to read his mind. Though maybe she was still trying to do that but in a different way…

“C-can I…” He could feel tears trying to escape and felt like the more he tried to talk the harder it was to hold them back. Mary Jane nodded, encouraging him to keep trying. “Can I sit on the floor?” He whispered it and found that it was easier to talk that way.

She looked at the nurse, who was still talking on the phone and seemed sort of flustered. Peter guessed she’d realized who she was talking to.

When she looked back at him, Mary Jane nodded again, taking hold of his hands and pulling him forward so he could sink to the ground in front of the chair. He pulled his knees up to his chest and let his arms hang loosely at his sides. He felt a little better then but he really just wanted Tony to be there. And not, at the same time. Tony Stark showing up at his school would not go unnoticed.

“He’s on his way, Peter,” the nurse said, taking back the attention of both Peter and Mary Jane, who was sitting cross-legged in front of him. Peter looked back at her again and could see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to figure out who was coming.

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she cursed under her breath, turning her head to took at Peter again. “No way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the cliffhanger! The next chapter will pick up with Tony's point of view starting when the nurse calls him.
> 
> Ok, so I'm just going to go ahead and explain here that if you haven't read That's Not A Hug: Part 2, you probably should in order to understand things like what happened with Peter in this chapter. This story has more hits than that one did so I just feel like I should let you know that going back and reading that will probably help clear things up if you don't understand things like this chapter. I haven't had any questions about it or anything but I just thought I'd say something. :) Also, if you haven't read it and for whatever reason would rather just keep reading this without going back, feeling free to just ask me to explain things to you in the comments and I will! :)
> 
> All right, next chapter in roughly a week! I've decided to shoot for Mondays but if a Monday goes by without an update you can expect one on Tuesday. I'm also contemplating updating more than once a week but I don't know yet... I'm currently writing chapter 30 so I probably could do that without worrying about it getting caught up too fast... I might just post twice in a week every now and then. *shrugs* 
> 
> Anyway, sorry for the long note but thanks if you read it! :) Be sure to leave a comment and tell me what you thought of the chapter!


	6. Chapter Six

“Tony, you have to stop doing this.” Steve sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Tony’s Dad Phone continued ringing as he stood up from the conference table.

“I’m sorry, Cap,” Tony said, spreading his hands and taking a few steps back. “I’ve gotta take this. No exceptions.”

Before anyone else could protest, Tony flipped the phone open and went to the far corner of the room.

“Hey, kiddo, what’s up?” He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Clint roll his eyes and drag his fingers down his face. Tony was pretty sure Clint thought this was some elaborate scheme to mess with their heads.

“ _ Actually, this is the nurse at Peter’s school _ ,” said a female voice from the phone. Tony stiffened. “ _ He gave me this phone to call you _ ?”

“What’s going on?” Tony demanded, trying to keep his voice down and remain calm. He didn’t want to freak out before he even knew what was happening, especially not in front of the other Avengers.

“ _ Well, I believe Peter’s suffering from some kind of anxiety attack. It might be best for you to come and pick him up, if you can. _ ”

“Right, yes,” Tony nodded to himself. Happy had driven him to the compound that day so he’d still be around. Holding the Dad Phone between his cheek and shoulder, he pulled out his personal cellphone and textied Happy to get the car started.

“ _ Well, sir, I’m going to need a name so I know I’m giving him to the right person - _ ”

“Yeah. Tony Stark.” He was met was silence on the other end, which normally amused him to some degree but now? Now he was just annoyed. “Yes,  _ that _ Tony Stark, now do you need anything else or can I come get my kid?” He snapped.

Remembering the Avengers behind him, Tony turned around and saw everyone staring at him. Most of them looked confused but also a little worried. Rhodey  _ just  _ looked worried and completely prepared to jump to his feet the second Tony told him to.

“What happened? Do you know what happened?” Tony asked without hearing her answer to the last question, if she’d even given one.

“ _ I - no. But he’s all wet, which isn’t… usual _ ?”

Tony sighed impatiently. “You are not helping right now. I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone and shoved it into his pocket. “Ok, I’m leaving now. I’ll see you all sometime.”

He left the room without waiting to hear what anyone else had to say. He knew Steve would have a lot of questions and some of the others probably would as well. But he had a teenager to go help and wasn’t going to sit around and listen to all of Steve’s problems with that.

Happy was waiting in the car directly in front of the entrance. Normally, he would be waiting to greet his boss and maybe open the door, depending on the situation, but he knew this was about Peter and barely even waited for Tony to shut the door before tearing down the driveway.

The second they got to the school, Tony jumped out of the car and ran in through the front entrance. Most of the students were gone already so he was able to get through the halls with only a few awed stares.

He found the first adult he saw there and asked where to go to pick up a kid from the nurse and was given directions. When he finally got there, after what felt like far too long of a search, he saw Peter huddled up on the ground, rocking back and forth and hugging his knees to his chest with one arm. The left arm and held tightly against his chest.

There was a girl with messy, tied back curls sitting in front of him, almost close enough for their legs to be touching but she seemed to be trying not to make any physical contact. Possibly a lesson already learned…

Tony stepped through the open door hesitantly.

The nurse looked up at him from her desk. Much to Tony’s annoyance, she had been doing something on her tablet and not paying any attention to the two teenagers curled up on the floor. “Oh, Mr. Stark,” she exclaimed.

The girl sitting with Peter looked up at the doorway. She didn’t look completely surprised that he was there. She nudged Peter a little with her foot but he didn’t look up. He just pressed his face closer to his knees and took in a shuddering breath.

Tony shook his head at the nurse, not wanting to talk to her. He crouched down next to Peter, trying to decide what to do. He looked back at the girl again and she only shrugged, looking as lost as Tony felt.

“Ok,” Tony muttered, waving his hand a little, gesturing for her to move aside. She scooted backwards, mostly using her hands. Tony moved slightly so that he was more in front of Peter like she had been. He was vaguely aware of her standing up and sitting in the empty chair. “Hey, Peter,” he said softly.

Peter peeked up at him over his knees and through his hair, which was flopping messily over his forehead. His eyes were red. Tony was pretty sure he’d been crying. Maybe that was why he wouldn’t look up. But Tony had seen him cry before and more times than he would’ve liked.

Oh, but…

Tony glanced up at the girl again.  _ Uh-huh. _

Tony sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “Peter, are you trying to breathe?”

Peter nodded but still sounded like he was having trouble. He was rocking less now but still hadn’t really stopped.

Sighing again, Tony looked back up at the girl. “Hey there,” he smiled.

Her eyes widened a little. “Um…”

“Are you two friends?”

She nodded. “Yeah… I was trying to help but… I don’t know if I did.”

Tony nodded thoughtfully. “I think you did,” he told her, his voice low so he wouldn’t bother Peter. “But I think right now it’ll help more if you just go. I’ve got it from here, ok?”

“Oh,” she stood up immediately. “Ok then…” She looked down at Peter again, trying to decide if she should say something to him. Ultimately, she looked back at Tony again. “Can you maybe ask him to call me or something later? Just so I’ll know how he is…”

Tony nodded again, offering another smile as she left. She looked back at Peter once more as she left. As soon as she was gone, Tony glared at the nurse. “Hey,” he said, still trying to be quiet but also not trying to sound nice. “Do you want to give us a second?”

“Oh… sure, I guess,” the nurse answered, grabbing her tablet and shuffling out into the hall.

“Ok…” Peter turned back to Peter, whose eyes were hidden again. “They’re gone. Can you talk?”

Peter shook his head and sniffled. He wasn’t really rocking anymore, which Tony figured was good, but he looked like he was trying to curl up even tighter.

Tony moved a hand towards Peter hesitantly at first, then ran his fingers through the teenager’s hair. He could feel Peter tense under his touch for a moment and almost pulled away but decided not to. If he kept pulling away whenever Peter was uncomfortable, he didn’t think Peter would really be able to trust that he was reliable.

Sure enough, after Tony had carded his fingers through Peter’s loose curls a few times, Peter was starting to relax. His breathing was still shaky but not as panicked.

Tony was pretty sure he was just emotionally exhausted at this point and not actually panicking any longer. He moved his hands to Peter’s back, pulling him forward and wrapping his arms around him. It sort of felt like Peter was trying to fight it a little but just gave in.

He didn’t hug Tony back, which was unexpected. Instead, he just continued to curl in on himself but now he was doing it while pressed as firmly into Tony’s chest as he could get. Tony held him tighter, one of his hands moving back up to stroke his hair again.

“I’m sorry,” Peter said, his voice almost a whimper.

Tony wished he could just never hear Peter say those words again. At least, not in moments like these where there was nothing to be sorry for at all. “You didn’t do anything…”

“No… you were in a meeting and I was freaking out over a bottle of water,” Peter sniffled, his bottom lip quivering.

“A… bottle of water?” Tony asked, just for clarification.

Peter just sobbed.

“No,” Tony sighed, mentally kicking himself. “I’m not… Peter, I was just making sure I’d actually heard that right. I’m not trying to…” he sighed again and could feel Peter’s fingers twisting around his shirt a little. “Can you just explain what happened so I can help?”

Peter took a deep breath, still shaky, and made himself speak. “Flash dumped water in my face and I just… I feel stupid.” The last part was muttered awkwardly.

“Don’t,” Tony insisted. “You’re allowed to feel whatever it is you’re feeling about that water… but can you just help me understand because I don’t think I can help you unless -”

“It just kinda made me go back…  _ there _ ,” Peter said, his voice breaking. “Like, mentally, I mean, and I know - I  _ know _ \- it was only water but for a second I thought it was…”

“ _ Not _ -water,” Tony breathed sadly. Why had any of that ever happened to Peter in the first place? “Peter, that’s pretty understandable.” He started rubbing soothing circles on Peter’s back without even thinking about it. It seemed to help though because he could feel Peter’s body going slack. “I mean, what happened to you… it’s not something you could just forget about. I know that. It doesn’t matter what triggers those memories or how stupid it feels, you can always tell me, all right?” Peter didn’t answer for a minute so Tony listened to his breathing. It had slowed down and gotten steadier. That was good. “Look, I’m always going to be here, ok? And you don’t have to be ashamed of stuff like this because I understand and I want to help you get to a better place every time. You know that, right?”

Peter nodded slowly and sighed tiredly. “Ok... Can we go home now?”

Tony couldn’t help smiling a little at the question. “Yeah, kid. Of course we can. Are you going to be ok?”

“Yeah, I think so…” Peter sighed again. He wrapped his arms around Tony for a moment, squeezing a little. “Thanks, Dad.”

Tony froze and suddenly became very aware of his own breathing. He didn’t speak for a minute but neither did Peter. Finally, he just said, “Any time.” Then he untangled himself from Peter, who he was pretty sure was starting to fall asleep. 

He helped him out to the car, not speaking to the nurse on the way out even though she clearly wanted him to. He didn’t care. If it was checking Peter out from her office or something, it was the last day of school so Tony decided it didn’t matter. And if it was about him being Tony Stark, he really didn’t care.

Happy was fidgeting in the front seat when they got out of the building and the second he saw them, he jumped out of the car and rushed to help get Peter in. He was walking on his own but just barely. Tony knew he was just tired but Happy had no idea what was going on or what to do beyond getting him safely in the car.

“Let me help,” he said as soon as he got to them. Tony shook his head.

“No, just get the door. We’re fine.”

Happy nodded and pulled open the back door, holding it until Tony had gotten Peter in comfortably. He decided to just let him spread out across the all backseat rather than try and buckle him in. It wasn’t that far of a drive anyway and who was going to pull them over and make Peter wear a seatbelt if they couldn’t even see him?

When Tony climbed into the passenger seat in the front and looked back at Peter’s half asleep face he had a brief idea of turning on his music. That would be funny…

But no. Peter had been through enough that day so he decided to save that for another time. Instead, he just told to Happy to drive and found himself looking back at Peter to entire way back to the tower.

He couldn’t stop thinking about what Peter had called him. Obviously, the kid was tired so it had probably just slipped out. But what he was wondering now was if it was just a mistake or something he’d been thinking and maybe even wanting to say for a while.

And really, Tony wasn’t sure which one of those options he preferred.

-

“Tony, can we just stay here for dinner?” Peter practically jumped Tony at a corner in the compound.

They had been there almost the entire day, having gone just after breakfast. Really, Tony had hardly seen Peter the whole time and had been trying to find him so he didn’t mind Peter just popping up. But he’d been trying to find him to say it was time to go so he didn’t really like the question much.

“Why do you want to do that?” Tony questioned.

Peter shrugged. “Well, Wanda always says Sam makes really good pizza and he said he’s making it tonight and I just really want to try it. School’s been out for a week so I don’t really have anything to do anyway.”

“Well, school may be out but work isn’t!” Tony countered. “What if I have to get up early tomorrow?”

“You don’t,” Peter told him. “I asked FRIDAY already and she said your schedule’s clear for the weekend. So you can stay.”

Tony shrugged casually. “Ok, so you got me there. But what if I just don’t want to?”

“Tony, come on,  _ please _ ,” Peter all but whined.

“Yeah, yeah, ok,” Tony smirked and kept walking, trusting that Peter would follow him. He did.

Peter had wanted to spend more time at the compound than Tony had let him. It had been sort of hard with school so they hadn’t gone too many times before school finally ended. After that, Tony hadn’t been able give much as a reason not to go. So they’d already gone six times in the past two weeks and Tony was getting sick of it.

For one thing, they kept trying to get him to talk about his kid. They knew Peter spent time with him working on tech so they tried to get him to talk about Tony’s kid as well.

Tony was just glad the Peter had managed to keep a straight face so far and not give anything anyway. If he hadn’t been able to keep quiet, Tony wouldn’t have let him keep going back. He always laughed about it in the car, telling Tony all about their attempts to get him to spill on Tony’s secret kid.

Mostly, Peter just spent time with Clint or Wanda. He liked to hang around Vision too, just to watch him go about his day. But mostly it was either Clint or Wanda that he wanted to be around.

Clint was his favorite to train with because he was nice but didn’t hold back. Cap liked to do team training so Peter pretty much knew what it was like to train with all of them. After a couple of those group training sessions, Peter decided Clint was his favorite and Clint didn’t seem to mind.

Also, since he wasn’t an Avenger, Peter didn’t actually have to join in Steve’s team exercises so… he didn’t. He tried a couple of times and hated it so that was done as far as he was concerned. Really, Tony was the only one on the team who seemed to get away with not joining them. If Peter had been on the team, he might not have been able to pass.

So rather than training with all of them, he just asked Clint to help him and he’d been willing every time.

Peter and Wanda really didn’t do anything specific. He just liked to spend time with her. They played cards and board games a lot and sometimes others would play too. Tony had also noticed them spending time just sitting by each other on the couch and reading books or something.

That was mostly how Peter had spent that particular day. He’d trained with Clint for a while and then he’d found Wanda and they’d played a game of Monopoly with Vision, Rhodey, and Bucky. It was an interesting game, to say the least. Vision won and, really, who was surprised? But even though they all kinda knew he would beat them, they got pretty invested.

It was the fun kind of invested though, where everyone’s laughing and even if they want to win they know it’s only a game. After that was over though, Peter and Wanda wanted to play something else and the others were happy with just the one game.

That was why they ended up playing games like battleship and connect four. They didn’t need other players to make those fun.

Peter wasn’t sure what happened at lunch because he and Wanda made grilled cheese sandwiches and ate them outside on the grass. But apparently someone had said something that made everyone get annoyed because when they went back inside no one was really talking very much. Peter had looked questioningly at Tony, who hadn’t given him any kind of answer.

“Just don’t worry about it, Peter,” Wanda had said, going back to find another game. “They’re still trying to get past what happened with the accords and… everything. It’s fine. They’ll be talking again soon enough. Checkers?”

And that had pretty much been Peter’s day. Considering the fact that lunch had gone poorly, maybe staying for another meal wasn’t the best idea but… Peter really wanted to try that pizza.

And it did turn out to be pretty good.

The second Peter took a bite of it, his eyes widened and he gasped. “This is so good! How did you make this? Holy-”

“Language, please,” Steve cut in.

“ _ Crap _ …” Peter amended awkwardly. He looked at Tony who was rolling his eyes. Peter bit his lip to try and keep from smiling. Wanda, who was sitting next to Peter, didn’t try to hide her smile at all.

“Well, I’m sorry,” Steve exclaimed, seeing some of the Avengers matching Tony’s reaction. “He’s a kid! He’s, like, thirteen.”

“He’s practically sixteen, Rogers,” Tony corrected exasperatedly. “And it’s none of your business what he says. He’s a teenaged New Yorker in the 21st century.”

Bruce sighed tiredly. “Can we not fight again today?”

“Yeah, let’s just enjoy the pizza Sam made,” Clint agreed, looking at Sam. “Thank you, by the way. Peter’s right, it’s very good. My kids would love this.”

Sam smiled, welcoming the change of subject as much as everyone else. “We should do a game night or something. I’ll make pizza, you can bring your family - it’ll be great!”

“Yes!” Wanda grinned. “We haven’t seen them recently enough!”

“Yeah,” Natasha nodded. “That could be really fun. Maybe  _ Tony _ could even bring  _ his _ kid.”

Tony frowned when everyone’s gaze turned to him. He looked at Peter, who looked away the second they made eye contact and just kept eating his pizza. Tony sighed in annoyance. “You guys know I don’t like to talk about him.”

“Him?” Steve piped up, earning a vicious glare from Tony.

Glancing back at Peter again, he saw that he was struggling to keep himself looking composed.

“Look, maybe someday I’ll talk about it or maybe even let you meet him,” Tony said, mostly looking at Steve. “But I can’t do that right now because I have to protect him and I can’t trust just anyone with him. I want to trust my team but I think we need to work back to that before I’m going to let you be involved in that part of my life.”

“Then what about before?” Steve challenged. “Why didn’t we know anything about you having a kid before the accords?”

“Can we just change the subject?” Tony pleaded, putting his face in his hands. “I do not want to talk about this. And you  _ all _ know that.”

There was just silence after that. No one seemed to know what to know what to say so they just ate in silence. 

Finally, Peter just sighed and pushed back his chair. “Ok, well… I’m full. Tony, you ready to go?”

Tony looked up at him, a little surprised. “Oh. Yeah, I guess so. Are you?”

Peter nodded. Tony could tell he was working hard to keep his expression neutral. “Yeah, I actually have somewhere I need to be around now so I probably can’t stick around any longer.”

Clint chuckled a little and covered his mouth to try and hide it.

“What?” Peter looked at him.

“Hmm?” Clint looked up, eyebrows raised. “Oh. Nothing, it’s just… ‘stick’. ‘Cause you can do that.”

Peter smiled a little and shook his head. “Ok. Well… I’ll see all you guys later, yeah?”

Everyone said a quiet goodbye and Peter noticed Natasha nudging Bruce. Weird.

“Oh!” Bruce started to stand up. “Uh, Tony, before you go would you mind coming to the lab and looking at something with me?”

Tony looked at Peter who shrugged. He looked back at Bruce and nodded. “Sure, but make it quick, yeah?”

“I’ll walk you out, Peter,” Natasha said, smiling a little too innocently. But Peter nodded and walked out with her anyway, saying a quick goodbye to Wanda as he left the table.

They got to the entrance and just stood there, waiting for Tony to show up.

“What do you want?” Peter asked. She looked like she was going to protest for a moment but changed her mind.

“You know we’re asking because we care, right?” She was keeping her voice low, like she wanted to make sure no one heard them.

Peter narrowed his eyes and cocked his eyes to the side. “What are you talking about?”

Natasha smirked. It reminded Peter of Mary Jane and the way she always seemed to know everything. “Come on. You know exactly what I’m talking about. And, Peter?”

“Yeah?” 

She leaned in just a little. “So do I.”

Peter’s face fell.  _ Breathe. Slowly, in and out. _ “No, you don’t. You’re saying that so I’ll say something I shouldn’t because I think you already know.”

Her smirk grew. “Which implies that there’s something you’re not supposed to say.”

His jaw clenched. “If you really know something, then  _ you _ tell  _ me _ .”

Natasha flashed a grin and then went back to smirking again. Peter hated smirking. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small flip phone. She held it out to him. “You dropped this earlier.”

Peter felt like his face was on fire. There was no way that was what he thought it was. Without taking it from her, he reached back to his own pocket. Empty. 

“What did you do to it?” Peter demanded, snatching it from her hand and shoving it roughly into his pocket.

“Nothing,” she told him, shrugging. “I just added a couple things.”

Peter froze. “Like what?”

“What are you two talking about?”

They both turned to face Tony as he walked up to them. He looked a little bit annoyed.

“We’re not,” Peter lied, cringing the second the words left his mouth. That was a blatant lie and there was no chance Tony didn’t know that.

Natasha chuckled and waved at them, walking back to the dining room to join the others.

“Seriously, what was that?” Tony asked Peter, still looking in the direction Natasha had gone.

“I… she was just trying to find stuff out.”

“Did she?”

Peter didn’t answer and Tony turned to look him in the eye. Something was weird here. He repeated the question.

Peter shrugged. “I hope not?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I can't think of anything specific to try and clear up but if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them! :)
> 
> The next chapter will be up on Monday. I decided to go ahead and post twice a week _sometimes_. This was one of those times. So don't except two chapters every week but there will definitely be a chapter every Monday and sometimes on Thursday!


	7. Chapter Seven

“Can you even believe this arrogant jerk?” Tony shouted at the tv, kicking the sofa.

“What are you yelling about?” Peter asked, walking into the room with a partially eaten apple in his hand.

“Nothing,” Tony snapped, shutting off the tv before Peter could see it.

“Come on,” Peter laughed, jumping over the back of the couch and landing with his legs crossed. “What is it?”

“I said it’s nothing,” Tony told him firmly, tossing the tv’s control over Peter and onto the coffee table. It just slid off onto the floor.

Peter shot a web at it and pulled it back up.

“Really?” Tony grinned momentarily. “You’re such a show off.”

“What?” Peter laughed. “I have them and I wear them almost 24/7 and you’re saying I shouldn’t use them?”

Tony sat down next to him, putting his feet up, and pushed the control back to the ground. Peter smacked his arm. “I never said you shouldn’t use them. But what if you run out of web fluid?”

“Yeah, like that’ll happen while I’m living in a giant science tower.”

Tony just rolled his eyes and smiled.

The smile didn’t reach his eyes though, so Peter kept going. “Are you going to tell me why you’re mad?”

Tony groaned. “It’s nothing, just… scientist stuff.”

“Like what? Is there some new theory you don’t agree with or something?”

He shook his head. “No. Just  _ people _ I don’t agree with. People trying to act like they’re so great, when really they’re just…  _ stupid _ .”

“Stupid scientists, huh?” Peter fought back a smile. “Who specifically?”

Tony didn’t say anything. He just looked hard at Peter for a minute and then looked away. Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Oh,” Peter said quietly.  _ Breathe _ . He hugged his left arm to his middle very slowly. Maybe even subconsciously. “What’s he doing?”

Tony shook his head again. “Nothing that bad… he’s just announcing some new project or something. I don’t know and I don’t care. I just don’t think he should be allowed to keep going like he is.”

“ _ Tony _ ,” Peter started.

“No, I know how you feel about it. And I don’t agree, ok?”

“No, but come  _ on,  _ Tony!” He sat up, and put his unfinished apple on the coffee table. “It’s just… it’s been months! It happened in  _ January _ and it’s  _ July _ and you’re still mad but he hasn’t tried anything in all that time so can you just give it up because it seems like he has!

“What are you talking about?” Tony’s voice was getting louder the longer this conversation was going and Peter was regretting saying anything. “That doesn’t make it ok! Yeah, you know what? I  _ am _ still mad! And  _ you’re _ still having nightmares. And he’s hardly done anything  _ at all _ that whole time, which is not normal for him and I think it’s suspicious! Osborn is not the kind of guy who’s just going to give something up after one attempt.”

He couldn’t ignore the way Peter’s whole body tensed up when he said Osborn’s name. A part of him felt bad but he was sick of sitting around pretending it hadn’t happened.

Peter closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, his teeth clenched. “Can we please not talk about it right now? We have more important things going on than that and -”

“Like what?” Tony sighed, more frustrated with himself for letting this go on so long than with Peter.

“Like the Avengers are trying to figure out what’s going with me and I’ve been here for months and my aunt still isn’t talking to me and -”

“Do you want her to?” Tony interrupted, making a mental note to get back to the Osborn discussion later because he wasn’t going to let Peter pretend to ignore it any longer. Tony knew he wasn’t really as over it as he wanted to say he was.

Peter cocked his head, looking confused. Tony wished he wouldn’t do that. It made him way too hard to say no to. “What do you mean?”

“Well, if she never talked to you again, would you care? Would you be ok with just… staying with me?” Tony asked, feeling a little uncomfortable. He didn’t like conversations like this.

“Um… I mean, I haven’t really thought about it…” he shrugged. He was lying. “I wouldn’t want to do that to y-”

“Oh, please stop saying that,” Tony leaned his head back against the couch and closed his eyes. “I have a headache and I don’t want to -”

“Boss, you have visitors,” FRIDAY spoke up, making Tony open his eyes.

“Was someone coming over?” Peter asked, grabbing his apple and going to the kitchen to throw it away.

Tony narrowed his eyes, trying to remember. “No. I don’t think so… FRIDAY, is it Rhodey?”

“Yes,” the AI answered. “As well as Dr. Banner, Agent Barton, Captain Rogers, Agent Romanoff-”

“Everyone?” Tony interrupted, sitting up stiffly on the couch.

“Yes.”

“Tony…” Peter said quietly from the kitchen. “What are they doing here?”

Tony shook his head, completely lost. He stood up and started to walk towards Peter. “I-I don’t know… uh, you need to -”

The elevator door slid open and Tony froze, looking at his teammates coolly. They were dressed in civilian clothes so it wasn’t an emergency mission. But Tony hadn’t really thought of that has a possibility in the first place.

Peter still stood wide-eyed in the kitchen.

Not everyone had actually come up but Peter figured they just couldn’t all fit in the elevator and were waiting in the lobby.

“What’s going on?” Tony asked.

They all looked at Peter, who wanted to melt into the floor.

“Hey, Peter,” Natasha said smoothly. “How’s it going?” She was smirking again.

“So,  _ you’re _ the kid?” Steve asked before Peter could answer Natasha.

Tony scoffed. “Is that what this is?” He was mad. Peter could see him working his jaw, his eyes twitching a little. “You just… you show up here  _ uninvited _ and knowing full well that I don’t want you to know about -”

“But it  _ is _ Peter?” Bruce cut in. He looked guilty - like he’d been dragged into doing this. He probably had been, though they couldn’t really have  _ made _ him help if he didn’t want to.

“You  _ all _ know he comes and helps with -”

This time Natasha interrupted Tony. Peter looked at her, only his eyes moving. “I took his phone at the compound. The one that matches your “Dad Phone”. There was only one number and I’m willing to bet it was yours.”

“You took his phone?” Tony yelled, his face turning red. “What if he’d been in danger and had to call for help?” Peter could feel his heart beating hard in his chest and had to remind himself again to breathe.

“I gave it back to him, Tony,” she replied evenly, one eyebrow raised slightly. “With a tracker. So we know he’s been here ever since then.”

Tony turned his head sharply, looking at Peter. “Did you know that? Did you know she took it?” Was it just Peter or was it getting extremely hot in there?

He swallowed thickly and looked at the ground. “I didn’t… know what she did but I knew she did something. I didn’t say anything because… I don’t know why I didn’t.” He looked back at Tony, whose expression was unreadable.

“Ok, so we were right, then,” Steve stated, crossing his arms.

“Steve, lay off,” Clint muttered, noticing Tony’s hands ball up into fists at his sides. Peter noticed it too. And he noticed the way his arms were straining as he struggled to keep them down.

“Tony, he has a family!” Steve exclaimed, ignoring Clint behind him.

Peter looked between Tony and the other Avengers, his desire to defend Tony getting to a point where he couldn’t ignore it. This wasn’t ok. “No, but, my aunt won’t talk to me! I had to go somewhere else!”

Steve barely looked at Peter and when he did he waved off his argument. “That doesn’t matter. She’s your guardian, not Tony. You don’t get to just leave.”

“May kicked him out! Someone had to look after him!” Tony shouted, stepping closer to Steve with his shoulders squared. “And I don’t see what  _ any _ of it has to do with you.”

“Making him into some selfish secret is not helping him, Tony!” Steve shouted back, stepping forward as well. “We all would’ve been willing to help him. All you had to do was tell us what happened and we would’ve let him stay at the compound. What good does it do to lie and make him hide from us? We can’t help him that way.”

“‘ _ Selfish _ ?’ Maybe Peter needs  _ me _ to help him, Steve,” Tony bit back. “Not you.”

Rhodey stepped out from the back of the group. Peter hadn’t even seen him back there. “Listen, Tony, just try and relax, ok? This isn’t good.”

Tony glared at his friend. “Yeah, and where do you fit into this, huh?” He asked him bitterly. “Did you tell them?”

“Come on, if I’d told them, do you think Nat would’ve needed to put a tracker in his phone?” Rhodey shook his head. “No, when they told all of us what they knew, we all wanted to come. Some of us came to  _ support _ you.”

“Tony, would you just hear us out please?” Steve had lowered his voice and was making a clear effort to shift into a less aggressive stance. “Just let us explain.”

“Why should I? This is our home and you just barged in here and started sticking your face in our business,” Tony had lowered his voice as well but now he was just seething.

Steve sighed and looked away for a moment. “Ok. I’ll go. But I’m not dropping this subject and I want you agree to come to the compound with Peter and we’ll all talk about this, ok?”

Tony’s eye twitched again. “Sure. I don’t really know what there is to talk about but sure. We’ll do that this evening.”

Steve nodded thankfully. “I’m sorry we handled this the way we did. It wasn’t ok.”

Tony just nodded at him, appearing to have calmed down significantly, though not enough to be completely ok with Steve being there any longer.

When the Avengers left, Clint and Rhodey sent sorry smiles Peter’s way. He tried to return the look but only succeeded in a sort of pained grimace.

As soon as they’re cleared out, Peter looked at Tony, trying to find some kind of reaction. He wasn’t really moving though and he was turned away from Peter then.

“Tony…?” Peter had intended to actually speak but it came out as more of a whisper.

“I’m going out,” Tony said suddenly, straightening up and grabbing some car keys from the counter. “Don’t leave the tower while I’m gone, please.”

Before Peter had time to get out the dumbfounded response starting to form in his brain, Tony was gone.

Now that he was alone, Peter let out the breath he’d been accidentally holding and slid down to the floor, blocking most of the room from his view with the counter. He didn’t really want to but as soon as he thought about everything again he couldn’t stop himself from breaking down and crying.

Everything was falling apart.

-

Tony pounded on May Parker’s door.

“May!” He shouted. “I know you’re in there. Open this door!”

There was no answer so he started pounding again.

“I’m not giving up until you let me in!”

He was about to hit his fist to the door again when it flew open and May grabbed his wrist, yanking him into the apartment and shutting the door behind them.

“Ok,” she snapped. “What do you want?”

“I want to talk about Peter and you know that already,” Tony answered, not wanting to waste time beating around the bush. “It’s been a while.”

“Oh, have you had enough of playing dad?” She asked, crossing her arms and frowning at him. “Figured it out it’s not so easy to raise a teenager? Did you come here to try and make me take him back?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Not even a little bit. First I want to ask if you were ever planning on coming back for him.”

“I’m not  _ planning _ anything,” she retorted. “You two didn’t give me much warning for all of this stupid superhero stuff. I didn’t plan  _ any  _ of this-”

“Would you stop playing the victim here? I don’t want to spend any more time arguing whose fault this was. Let’s just agree that everyone messed up somehow, ok?”

May chewed at the inside of one of her cheeks, nodding thoughtfully. “Fine, ok. So you want to know if I’m going to take him back?”

“Yeah, if it’s not too much to ask,” Tony answered, trying not to sneer at her. 

May shrugged, which was too casual a reaction in Tony’s opinion. “I don’t know. Maybe? Not right now. I can’t do it. I’ve seen him in the paper and on tv though and he seems the same.”

“You’re going to judge that on some news clips of Peter in a masked costume? Honestly?” Tony asked disbelievingly.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Look, just… can you just keep a while longer? I need to worry about other things right now. I’m having some problems at work and I-”

“Don’t finish that,” Tony cut her off, unable to keep the disgusted look from his face. “Listen… I don’t want to keep him ‘a while longer’, ok? I’m just gonna say it, I want to keep him with me.”

May’s defensive and angry face dropped. She looked vulnerable and lost. Tony thought briefly about backing down but he’d already started and he had a good reason so he wasn’t going to give up.

“You mean forever?” She asked. “You want to adopt him?”

Tony nodded and stepped a little closer to her. “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m asking.” She didn’t say anything but he could tell she was thinking. “You’ve made it clear that you don’t want to raise him. But, May, I  _ do  _ want that. I just need you to agree to let me so we can get the papers and make it-”

“No.” She shook her head adamantly, crossing her arms again. “No! Of course not.”

Tony couldn’t believe this. He hadn’t expected a fight on this. His eyebrows raised incredulously, he flung his arms out to his sides. “Why not? If you don’t want him, what are you trying to do right now?”

“He can live with you,” she said, moving away from the door a little. “I’m not saying I’m taking him back… but you don’t get him completely.”

“What are you talking about?” Tony demanded. This wasn’t right. He had a plan and she was destroying it. “He can’t just keep on living with me while you’re still his legal guardian! Do you have any idea how complicated that makes everything? Do you even care what that does to Peter?”

“You don’t understand!” May cried, shoving her hands into her hair.

“Then explain.”

“I don’t… I  _ can’t _ have him here right now. But if I give him to you then I’ll never get another chance!”

Tony frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. “So you’re saying that you’re going to put Peter in some weird in between place until you decide you feel like being a parent? And then what? You think you’ll be able to just start over?”

What was Tony supposed to do if she just took Peter away?

And when did she think she’d do that? How long would they be together before May took Peter back? Tony wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

“I don’t know!” she moaned miserably. “But I do love Peter and I don’t want to lose him completely, Tony. You have to try to understand that!”

“May, I won’t be able to keep him with me if you don’t let me have legal guardianship. Eventually, he’s going to have to leave me and if you won’t take him back now, where’s he supposed to go?”

May raised her arms questioningly. “Well, why can’t he stay with you? I thought you wanted him to!”

Tony clenched his teeth, taking a slow breath. He wasn’t in the mood to sit here and discuss all the things that could go wrong. “I do want him to but that doesn’t mean it’ll work! Look,” he closed his eyes tiredly. When he opened them again, he tried to calm down and reason with her. “I just want you to at least agree to think about it. If you don’t want him, it doesn’t make sense to not let him move on.”

May shook her head resolutely. “No. I’m sorry but no.”

“ _ May, _ would you just -”

“Please leave,” she said firmly, moving to open the door again. “Please leave my apartment and do not come back here until I call you.”

Tony shook his head but complied, walking back to the door as well. “Are you actually going to?”

May nodded but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I am. I just need a little more time. Goodbye, Tony.”

When she shut the door behind him, he stood in the hall for a moment. He just had to gather his thoughts. This hadn’t worked the way he’d wanted it to. He’d thought maybe if he could get her to agree to him adopting Peter he could tell the Avengers… that way there wouldn’t be anything they could do. Clearly Steve wasn’t on board with the idea of Tony letting Peter live with him but if he were Peter’s legal father… it wouldn’t matter what Steve or anyone else thought.

_ More time _ , she’d said.

Tony didn’t feel like he had any more time. What could he do? The only solution he could think of would be to take her to court. He knew he could get the best lawyers and he would at least have a good shot at winning but… would Peter be able to look at him the same way after something like that?

No, that wasn’t an option.

He’d just have to keep fighting.

-

Happy found Peter curled up on the kitchen floor with tear streaked cheeks.

He’d been just going about his business when half the Avengers loaded into the elevator and the other half parked themselves in the lobby, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Not long after that, they’d gathered back together and left. 

Only a few minutes later, Tony had torn off in one of his cars without a word to anyone. Happy had gotten the feeling something was wrong and the natural thing to do seemed to be to go up and check on Peter.

He had been working on some things Tony had told him to do earlier so he decided he’d better finish before he went up. It didn’t take him too long but once he finally started to head up he wondered if he had taken too much time. Maybe Peter had left or something. Happy had noticed that a lot of the time when he was upset, Peter would put on his suit and swing off through the city. So if everyone else was upset, Peter might’ve been too.

Really, Happy didn’t know what he expected but it probably wasn’t to find Peter on the kitchen floor.

“Kid? What’s wrong?” He stood at the edge of the kitchen and looked down at Peter, unsure of how to handle the situation.

Peter looked up him and kind of tried to smile. “Hey, Happy.”

“You, uh, you ok there?” He asked hesitantly. Peter shook his head a little, his attempted smiled dropping.

“Not really. I screwed up pretty bad,” Peter sighed.

Happy nodded a little, still standing there, swinging his arms a little bit. “Oh. Well… did you want to talk about it or…?”

“The Avengers found out about me so now everyone’s mad.”

“Everyone?” Happy came a little closer to Peter and sat down hesitantly, still keeping a considerable amount of distance between them.

Peter nodded sadly. “Yeah.”

“Even Tony?” Happy asked skeptically. Peter nodded again, his bottom lip starting to quiver. “Hey, I’m sure he’s not. At least, not at you.”

“Why do you think that?” Peter asked, his voice sounding a little choked.

Happy shrugged. “Well, because. Tony loves you. And he knew they’d find out eventually so even if you did something, which I’m guessing you did since you feel so bad, I don’t think he’s mad at you.”

“You didn’t see him,” Peter countered, his shoulders sagging.

Happy shook his head emphatically. “No! I saw him leaving. He looked mad, I’ll give you that, but what I’m saying is that I don’t think he’s mad at  _ you _ .”

Peter just looked at him disbelievingly. 

“No really,” Happy insisted, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll call him and ask.”

“What? No!” Peter protested a little too late. The phone was already ringing.

Happy was about to ask if he should hang up with Tony answered.

“ _ Hogan _ ,” was all he said. Well, he certainly didn’t sound like he was good mood.

“Uh, hey, boss,” Happy said, looking over at Peter. “How’s everything going?”

“ _ Not too well _ ,” Tony sighed. “ _ Why? What’s going on? _ ” He sounded to Happy like he couldn’t decide if he was tired or annoyed. Maybe it was a little bit of both.

Happy cleared his throat awkwardly, still watching Peter. “I’m just up in your kitchen. Peter’s… sad. I don’t know what  _ I’m _ supposed to do exactly… hey! No, no, Peter, don’t cry! Why are you crying? Tony, he’s crying.”

Peter had pulled his knees up to his chest and was trying to wipe away his tears as they started to fall again.

Happy heard Tony sigh through the phone before he said, “ _ Ok, can you give Peter the phone, please? _ ”

“Oh,” Happy said. “Sure, I guess so…” he held the phone out to Peter, who took it a little unsurely. He held it to his ear.

“ _ You there, Peter? _ ” Tony asked gently. 

Peter sniffled a little. “Yeah… hey, Tony.”

“ _ Hey _ ,” he said back. “ _ You know Happy didn’t mean that the way you’re taking it, right? _ ”

Peter didn’t answer.

“ _ He just wants to help. Please stop feeling guilty about things when you haven’t even done anything. _ ”

“I can’t help it…” Peter told him quietly.

Tony gave an unconvinced grunt. “ _ Yeah, you probably can if you try hard enough. _ ” He paused. “ _ And that’s not my way of saying you don’t try or something. I know you do. _ ”

“Ok,” Peter said, not really sure how else to respond.

Tony sighed again. “ _ Yeah. Well, go ahead and hand the phone back to Happy. I’m on my way back and when I get there I want you to  _ not _ be feeling guilty anymore, ok? _ ”

“Sure,” Peter responded with a little laugh he couldn’t help. He said a small goodbye and passed the phone back to Happy, not really listening to the rest of the conversation he had with Tony.

Really, Tony was right and Peter knew it. He’d always tended to take the blame for everything and had been doing it even more than usual in the past few months. He still blamed himself for what had happened with Aunt May and felt bad about Tony having to deal with him for so long, even if he knew deep down that it wasn’t his fault and that Tony wasn’t in some hurry to get rid of him.

Still. He felt bad and he was struggling to get past it.

After a few minutes, Happy stood up and offered Peter a hand, pulling him up as well. If he wanted to do better, he’d just have to start somewhere. Peter thought it seemed a little weird but before Happy had helped him up he’d felt as if he could stay there forever. So, in a way, standing up made him feel like he might really have a shot at making things better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok... so the Avengers. Mostly Steve.
> 
> Please don't attack me!
> 
> No but seriously, I do not hate him, I swear! People often think I do, but I don't. And we're not making him into a villain. Bottom line is, Steve doesn't get it. He doesn't really know what's going on but he thinks he understands and he's wrong. The way he's seeing things is inaccurate in this situation. And Tony is defensive.
> 
> I'll explain more of how Steve handles and reacts to things as the story progresses, I promise. 
> 
> And also, please don't think of this as MCU Steve exclusively. Some his reactions and opinions are based more on various comics I've read where I honestly just think he's kind of an idiot who doesn't stop and think. Of course, not everyone will agree with me on that but it's how I feel about some versions of the character. And we've put a lot of thought into his character in this story and making sure we know exactly what he's thinking so that we don't just have him be some kind of mindless opposition.
> 
> Anyway... I know Steve has a lot of fans and firm supporters and he's not necessarily written as a flawless angel in this story because that's not how I see him and that's not his role here... but I do not hate him and I really don't want to hear any "Steve wouldn't do that" kinds of comments on this story because in this story's universe, he would. Ok?


	8. Chapter Eight

As soon as Tony got back to the tower he tossed his keys onto the counter and went to Peter’s room. He rapped his knuckles on the door as he opened it. Peter was stretched out front-down on his bed, writing something in a spiral bound notebook.

“Hey, kid.”

Peter looked up at him and set down his pencil. “Oh, hey! How long have you been back?”

Tony shrugged nonchalantly. “Eh, not that long. Are you doing any better?”

“Yeah,” Peter nodded, offering a small smile. “Yeah, I’m ok. Just working on school.”

“That’s good… wait, you’re on break.”

Peter shrugged a little. “It’s just… books for next year. I’m working on stuff early... for fun.” 

Tony nodded a little and tapped his fingers on the doorknob. “Ok, well, if you don’t need anything, I’m just going to be in the workshop for a while. Be ready to leave in a couple hours, ok?”

“Sure,” Peter agreed as Tony left the room.

Sighing heavily, Tony rubbed his hands over his eyes and headed for the kitchen. He grabbed a few bottles from the fridge and went to his workshop. He had to clear his head.

Going to talk to the other Avengers was the last thing Tony wanted to do right then. Maybe if he’d had more time to prepare a good argument in his favor he would’ve felt better about it. But this had been sudden and he hadn’t been even the slightest bit ready for it.

Tony wasn’t stupid. He knew they would try to take Peter away from him and there would be nothing he could do about it. He had no qualifications to be a parent and he knew that. Without May’s cooperation, he didn’t really have a good card to play.

And Peter… Peter looked so at home and comfortable in his room. Tony hated that anyone would try and take that away from him. He’d lost that too many times already and Tony was ready to fight to make sure he got to keep it this time.

But now… now, he just needed some time to cool off. He wasn’t sure how he felt. There was anger… but also hopelessness and a determined fire. The more he thought about, the more worked up he got. He really just wanted to stop thinking altogether.

So after he told FRIDAY to lock the door and got to work fixing up some old suits, Tony made it his current goal to down each of the bottles he’d grabbed.

Having a goal was good, right?

-

Peter’s face fell the minute he walked into the kitchen when FRIDAY told him it was time to leave.

Tony was already there, drinking some water and tossing his head back. He was probably taking more advil than he should’ve been. His head was no doubt killing him.

Peter could smell it on him. He thought maybe Tony had forgotten Peter could tell…

“Um… Tony?” Peter said hesitantly, staying at the edge of the room. “Are you ready to go?”

“Hmm?” Tony turned to face him, keeping his eyebrows raised in an attempt to look more alert. “Uh, yeah… yeah, I am.”

Peter nodded. “Ok… um, how are we going?”

“I told Happy to get a car ready.” Tony waved a hand passively and put his cup in the sink. “I don’t feel like going in my suit.”

“Happy’s driving though… right?” Peter asked him hesitantly. He was relieved to see a nod from Tony. The billionaire didn’t seem to be in good shape to be driving at the moment… Peter wasn’t sure he’d want to go with him if he’d been planning to drive himself.

The car ride was silent. Tony didn’t even want to listen to music, which was a little surprising to Peter. No one really spoke so Peter just sat quietly in the back and worked on his schoolwork the whole way out to the compound.

Really, he didn’t mind the lack of conversation. He didn’t feel much like talking either.

He’d calmed down significantly since crying on the kitchen floor, which he was glad neither of the older men had felt a need to bring up, and was feeling a lot less guilt ridden. Really, the Avengers were going to find out eventually anyway. Should he have told Tony that Natasha had taken his burner phone? Yeah, maybe. But what was done was done, right? So he wasn’t going to think about it.

But even then, he couldn’t help feeling a little nervous. What were the Avengers going to have to say? Clearly, they weren’t all as ok with Peter being around as people like Rhodey. Were they actually going to take him away?

There was a part of Peter that didn’t really think they’d have him stay at the compound, even if Steve had said they would. He also said Peter shouldn’t have left in the first place so what if he made him go back to his aunt, who still didn’t want him? Where would he go after that?

He thought briefly that he might have to go to Ned’s after all. He knew Ned’s mom would want to help him because… well, she was Ned’s mom. She always wanted to help and especially when it was someone she liked. She liked Peter. And Ned would want to help… but how long could he stay there? He was sure it wouldn’t last as long as this had. They didn’t have as big of a home so he’d just be in the way.

Maybe if he could make some more friends at school he could go between houses for a while. But it was summer. And even if it  _ had _ been the middle of the school year, Peter didn’t think he could make any more friends let alone ones close enough to let him stay at their house.

No, he supposed he couldn’t really think of a good plan. He’d have to just go where he was sent, whether by the Avengers or his aunt.

-

Peter wished Happy could’ve come inside with him. Even just so that he could’ve avoided the sympathetic smile and wave goodbye that Happy gave him as he pulled away to park in some shade and wait for them.

The Avengers were good people and Peter loved spending time with them. He’d really enjoyed getting to know them all. And some of them had become good friends. Normally, he was really excited when Tony said they could go to the compound.

Now? Well, now Peter just wanted to hide under the table and not look at them.

He could feel everything becoming more distinct as his anxiety started to build. To anyone else, the compound would’ve seemed quiet since all the Avengers were waiting in the conference room already and no one was moving around doing things.

But Peter could hear the air whistling gently through the vents and could feel it as well. The hair on the back of neck was moving just enough to bother him and most people might not have noticed the faint motion at all. 

But Peter Parker was not “most people” and Peter Parker  _ did _ notice.

He noticed the same way he noticed how loud the shuffle of his and Tony’s shoes were against the floor and suddenly he could feel the fabric of his clothes a little too much. He took a deep, slow breath through his nose and clenched his teeth together. He wasn’t going to walk in there and freak out because that would make everything worse.

When they entered the room, Peter could feel everyone looking at him and Tony without needing to look back. He hated feeling this exposed and vulnerable.

Tony offered the other Avengers a cool hello and guided Peter to an empty chair, putting his hands on the back of the one next to it but not sitting down himself. Rhodey was sitting in the chair at Peter’s other side and looked over at him with a smile not too far from the one Happy had given him.

Everyone was either sitting somewhere along the sides of the table or standing against a wall. Most of them looked uncomfortable and worried. Peter wasn’t sure how all of them felt about the whole situation but it seemed safe to say that none of them wanted this to blow up any more than it had already. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Peter was fairly certain that was unavoidable. 

“So,” Steve spoke up when no one else seemed to want to. He looked at Tony straight on, not sitting either. He stood with his back straight and his head up, clearly not planning to go forward with this timidly. Tony matched his stance. “What are we starting with? There’s a lot to talk about and it’s gotta start somewhere.”

“Uh, here’s an idea,” Tony smiled, his eyes hard. “How about we start with why you thought you had a right to dig around in my personal life? I kinda thought it was fair to have some stuff stay separate from all this.”

“But not something like this, Tony,” Steve replied quickly. “This is ridiculous.”

Tony scoffed. “So Clint gets to have a secret family in a farmhouse and I can’t -”

“That’s not even the same thing!” Steve interrupted. “Because what  _ you’re  _ doing is wrong. Clint’s not doing anything wrong by having a wife and kids. And you know what? Even if it was wrong, he was actually keeping his personal life separate from his work. You don’t do that.”

“No, if I didn’t do that you all would’ve known about Peter living with me when it first started. You’re the ones who couldn’t stay out of my private life.”

“You don’t  _ have  _ a private life!” Steve cried incredulously. “Everything you do is on some magazine somewhere and you love it. You couldn’t keep Peter a secret from us because you didn’t want to. You brought him here multiple times and kept making some show out of your stupid phone, completely ignoring our meetings and disrespecting all of us in the process. All this is to you is some game, just like everything else you do! You just wanted to see how long you could draw it out and couldn’t resist stirring the pot.”

Peter noticed Tony go still next to him and turned his head just slightly to look at the older man. He had narrowed his eyes and seemed to be trying to decide between a million things to say.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Rogers,” Tony seethed, his grip on the chair tightening enough to turn his knuckles white. “Nothing about this is a game to me.  _ Peter _ is not a  _ game to me. _ ”

“Tony,” Rhodey said softly, looking up at his friend with a worried expression on his face. “Relax a little bit, ok?”

Bucky, who had already been standing just behind Steve, leaned forward a little and said something to him. Probably trying to calm his friend the same way Rhodey was.

“Look…” Natasha, who was sitting across from Peter, leaned forward and folded her hands. “That’s not really important. Who cares what Tony was or wasn’t trying to do? The point is that we found out and we’re not all happy about it.”

Clint nodded and stepped forward a little from where he’d been against the wall. “Nat’s right. Let’s just start by being upfront and telling everyone where we’re standing on this. We’ll just go from there.” No one protested but Peter felt more of a desire to slip under the table. “Ok, I’m starting. I don’t think Tony is doing anything wrong. I just want him to trust us enough to be more open around us. Because I want to be able to help.” He said all of this while looking at Tony, who still seemed angry enough that his expression didn’t soften at all.

“Well,” Vision chimed in, raising a hand slightly. “I believe that Steve is correct. In fact, if someone were to take legal action-”

“No one’s doing that,” Clint interrupted him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Ok, so Vision is with Steve. Uh,” he looked around at the group. “Scott, why don’t you tell us how you’re feeling about this?”

Everyone looked at Scott, who was sitting at the end of the table. He sat up a little, eyebrows raised. “Oh. Oh, me? I mean… I don’t really know.”

“Well, do you agree with me or with Tony?” Steve questioned, arms crossed.

Scott shrugged. “I don’t know. I still feel kinda new and like I shouldn’t have a say. And I definitely shouldn’t in something like this because I know Tony and Peter less than I know all of you. I don’t really know that much about the situation and-”

“I think Steve is wrong,” Bucky cut in, surprising everyone. Just when it looked like Steve was going to say something, Bucky kept talking. “We don’t know why he’s even with Tony but they seem ok so why are we trying to interfere?”

“Because Peter is not his kid!” Steve exclaimed, gesturing in Peter’s direction. “He has an aunt who is his legal guardian and Tony doesn’t get to just take him!”

“Fine, but did anyone ask why Peter’s been staying at the tower?” Bucky questioned, keeping his tone level.

Peter scanned the room, looking to see everyone’s reactions. Everyone still looked a little shocked that Bucky hadn’t just automatically agreed with Steve. Though no one looked more surprised than Steve himself. And Tony… Tony looked smugly satisfied.

“You know, Bucky here is right,” Tony smirked. “No one’s really  _ asked _ me anything. It’s just been a lot of accusations, really.”

Rhodey sighed, crossing his arms and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Ok…” Bruce spoke up hesitantly. He had been standing off the side of the room the whole time, avoiding getting involved. “Well then, would one of the two of you care to explain?”

Peter started to answer but Tony beat him to it.

“His aunt kicked him out when she found out he was Spider-Man. He needed help and he came to me.”

“Why not just come to us?” Steve asked, looking at Tony rather than Peter, who sighed and leaned back into his chair.

Tony faced Steve again, glaring fiercely. “He didn’t exactly know most of you then. He knew  _ me _ and he knew I’d help him.”

“How does this help?” Natasha asked, making Tony turn furiously to her. She put her open hands up. “I’m not saying it’s wrong. I’m just asking.”

Peter glanced across the room at Wanda, who had been keeping her head down pretty much since he and Tony had gotten there. She looked up at him and met his eyes.

“Well, what exactly did you expect me do? I’m looking out for him!” Tony defended. He was squeezing the chair again.

“If his aunt wouldn’t take him back you should’ve gone to CPS or something,” Sam told him his a shrug. “I’m just saying… Steve probably has a point here.”

Wanda raised her eyebrows at Peter and took a deep breath, pointedly holding it in before letting it back out slowly. Peter hadn’t realized until then how rapid his breathing had gotten.

He shook his head slightly and turned his eyes away from her.

“Are you kidding me?” Tony scoffed, walking over to get some water and another advil. Peter briefly considered asking for some water for himself but didn’t think anyone would hear him anyway. “This is ridiculous. I wasn’t going to give him to CPS. He’s a superhero kid with problems that not everyone could help him with! Do you have any idea how many nights he has nightmares? Do you know about his anxiety? No, and they wouldn’t either!”

Peter closed his eyes, not wanting to see the way everyone was looking at him. He felt a hand on his lower arm. Rhodey. Peter pulled away from him. He wasn’t in the mood.

“You know what, fine,” Steve exclaimed, stepping closer to Tony. They were standing just behind Rhodey’s chair now. “So you did what you thought you had to do. Good job, ok? But at this point, something needs to change. He can’t stay with you.”

“Why not?” Tony challenged, straightening his posture.

“Do you even need to ask that?” Steve scoffed. “Think about it. You’re supposed to be so smart, right? I mean come on, how much did you even drink before you came here, huh?”

Tony froze and set down his water, his voice becoming dangerously low when he spoke. “What did you just say to me?”

Peter turned his chair slightly, trying to get a better look at the two Avengers. They were both tense, glaring daggers at each other. Peter glanced at Rhodey, whose face had fallen. He looked heartbroken.

“You know exactly what I said, Tony,” Steve answered with something too close to a smile on his face. “You know no one will let you keep him and you know why.”

“You don’t get to decide that, Rogers,” Tony spat out. He was practically shaking with rage and Peter had had just about enough of the whole thing.

“Maybe I do,” Steve argued. “Maybe  _ I _ say Peter should be here, with people who can do something, if he can’t be with his aunt.”

“No, you have  _ no _ say in that. Peter’s not going anywhere,” Tony insisted.

“Yes, he is, Tony, because you’re not fit to-”

“Shut up!” Peter shot up to a standing position. He could feel the blood pumping through his veins; his face was burning. His head was buzzing and it wasn’t because of his spider sense. This was different. He was angry and he felt suffocated. Everyone was looking at him, expressions of varying degrees of shock etched on their faces. “I am  _ right here! _ ” he cried desperately, his breathing hard. His eyes stung with tears building up and trying to fall down his cheeks.

“Peter,” Tony said quietly, trying to calm him down. “We know that. We’re just trying to-”

Peter swatted away the hand Tony had been extending toward his shoulder. “No! You can’t just decide all of this without me! I should get  _ some kind of say _ !”

“You’re still a minor, Peter,” Steve cut in, one hand on his belt and the other extending towards Peter in a manner Peter thought was supposed to be both calming and authoritative. “You don’t get to just decide who you live with.”

“Steve!” Bucky admonished from behind him, looking worriedly at Peter, who was glaring furiously at Steve. “That’s not helping anything.”

“You don’t even  _ know me! _ ” Peter shouted at Steve. “You don’t get to just tell me I don’t get a say and you don’t get to tell me where to go either!”

“All right, we’re done here,” Tony shook his head incredulously. “Peter, come on. It’s time to go now.”

“You’re not doing that, Tony,” Steve combatted, reaching out suddenly and gripping Peter’s lower arm, completely unaware of the odd scars beneath the sleeve. Peter froze, inhaling sharply, his eyes snapping up to look at Tony, who looked completely livid.

“Let go of him  _ right now _ !” He grabbed Peter’s arm as well, his hand higher up than Steve’s. He didn’t miss how still Peter was or the way his lips had formed a straight line and his cheeks were already losing their angry color, which had been so very present mere moments before.

The two of them stood and continued to glare at one another longer than anyone - especially Peter - would’ve liked. No one spoke as they sat and watched Peter and the two older men standing all together, Peter’s arm connecting them to one another. Peter kept his eyes on Tony’s the whole time, trying to control his breathing.

“Rogers…” Tony whispered acidly. “Let go of my kid. You’re scaring him.”

“Tony,” Bruce sighed from the corner. “I’m sorry, but he’s  _ not _ your -”

“Shut your mouth, Bruce,” Tony snapped, keeping his eyes locked on Steve’s. He wanted to just pull Peter’s arm away but worried that it would just upset him even more. Especially if Steve still wouldn’t let up and Peter got stuck in some kind of tug-of-war.

Steve finally broke their eye contact and looked at Peter. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw how pale the teenager’s face had gotten. He sighed and opened his fingers, pulling his hand back completely as he took a couple steps back.

Tony pulled Peter a little closer to where he was standing. “You’re ok, Peter. You’re fine,” he breathed just loud enough for Peter to hear him. When Peter nodded, he let go of his arm as well.

Peter took a shuddering breath. “Tony, I’m s-”

“Don’t say it, Pete,” Tony shook his head. “Will you just… will you wait in another room? I promise we’re not going to make any decisions, ok? Not without you.”

Peter sighed a little but nodded, his cheeks turning red.

Tony nodded back at him and looked back up at everyone else. “Can someone… just - someone go wait somewhere with him, ok?”

Tony was still angry. Peter could tell he was trying to be calm for Peter’s sake but he was angry and maybe more than before. Now that he thought about it, that was more than likely the reason he was sending Peter out. He was angry enough that he didn’t want Peter to be there.

“I’ll go,” Bucky spoke up, shoving past Steve a little on his way over to guide Peter to the door. Peter followed him and kept his eyes down, completely embarrassed and not wanting to meet anyone’s eye.

“Me too,” Wanda said quietly and hurried to leave with them. As soon as they were outside with the door shut behind them, she grabbed Peter and pulled him into a tight hug. He tensed up and gasped a little but she didn’t let go. After a moment or two, his muscles relaxed and he hugged her back, grateful for the comfort.

“I am so sorry,” he muttered against Wanda’s shoulder.

Bucky furrowed his eyebrows. “Why?”

“Because I just… I ruin everything, Bucky,” Peter choked, holding on to Wanda a little tighter. “You guys were all working together again and stuff and I just… I screwed everything up! And then I managed to screw it up even more in there.”

Wanda pulled back and looked him square in the eye. “Peter, that’s not true.”

“Yeah, you didn’t do anything,” Bucky agreed matter-of-factly, gesturing for the younger two to follow him and starting off towards the kitchen. “There’s no reason to be sorry about anything.”

“I mean… ok, I guess,” Peter shrugged weakly. He was too exhausted to argue about it, really.

Wanda slid her arm around his shoulders as they walked and offered a little smile. “You need to be a little softer on yourself, Peter.”

“I know,” he shrugged again. “Everyone says that.”

They sat down at the counter while Bucky rummaged around in the cupboards. Once he found what he was looking for he came and sat down next to Peter so that the teenager was between the two of them. He set down a half eaten box of grocery store cookies and popped it open, sliding it in front of Peter so they could all reach.

“These are just about the most generic cookies on the planet,” Peter chuckled and took three. “These are the ones that you can get at any grocery store and even though they’re not a specific brand they will  _ always _ taste the same.”

“Well, you’re still eating them,” Wanda said, taking a couple for herself.

“Hey, I never said they tasted  _ bad _ !” Peter argued, shoving the second half of his first cookie into his mouth. “So… what’s new around here? Fill me in. I just want to get my mind off of... everything.”

“Huh…” Bucky cocked his head to the side, getting up to get some milk. “Well, we’ve been getting some reports of something weird around the city.”

Peter looked up curiously. “Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Something flying around at night,” Wanda supplied, holding her hand out towards Bucky, who handed her the milk. She moved the other hand in the direction of the cupboard Bucky had gotten his own cup from and swirl of red lifted one, bringing it close enough for her to pluck from the air. “It hasn’t done anything though.”

“What would it be doing?” Peter asked, finishing his second cookie and licked the pink frosting from the side of his mouth.

“No one knows yet,” Bucky shrugged, leaning back against the counter. “They’re just saying it looks kind of like a man.”

“Flying though? Like with wings or-”

“Some sort of glider, apparently,” Bucky cut him off. He shrugged again. “I don’t know, kid. Like Wanda said, he doesn’t do anything. Just flies around and disappears again. But he’s only been reported a handful of times so I don’t know what to tell you.”

Peter hummed thoughtfully, folding his arms on the counter and nestling his chin in the fold of his right elbow. He hadn’t seen anything while he’d been out at nights as Spider-Man but maybe he’d just been in another area. What was this glider guy trying to do exactly? Was he planning something sinister? Or maybe he wanted to try and help like the Avengers or something. Peter had heard about some other “gifted” people in places like Hell’s Kitchen and Harlem. Maybe it was like that.

He really had no idea what to think but now he was intrigued… maybe he’d try and find this guy the next time he went out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: 
> 
> I think we can all agree that Steve is not handling this well at all. Really, he shouldn't even be getting involved. And yes, a lot of it is more about Tony not saying something than it is about anything else. While I don't want to just lay out the plot, I can tell you that most of the Avengers cool off pretty soon after this. Steve takes longer to give it up but I think it's fair to say it's a bit of a pride thing.
> 
> The thing with Steve in this fic is that he does genuinely think he's right. Also, they don't all agree with him. In fact, most of them don't agree with him entirely. For the most part, they just want to lay everything out and figure out to do but Tony doesn't that any of them should have a say in it, which they probably shouldn't. They don't all necessarily think Tony should to be looking after a kid but they definitely aren't all agreeing with Steve either.
> 
> Steve honestly doesn't think Tony should be responsible for a minor. And he's also offended that Tony didn't tell them any of what was happening. Should he be offended? No, he really shouldn't because this has nothing to do with him. But he is and he's handling it the wrong way. I understand why people are feeling like this all just Steve being pissed at Tony but there is more to what he's thinking than that. Not saying that's not part of it, because it is.
> 
> I just want to say... this kind of thing can get complicated. For some people, fostering and adopted kids and everything related to that ends up being a very long and drawn out process. For others, it's pretty straight forward and simple. I've had people tell me how it should work and I'd like to say that 1) it doesn't always go the same way and 2) this is not only fiction but fanfiction that my friends and I write for fun. It doesn't have to be this serious, ok?
> 
> I don't want this story to upset or offend people. I'm also not going to change it, partially because I'm way past this point of the story in the writing process and to change it would mean a whole lot of rewrites that I'm just not going to do. If you don't like the story, please don't try to tell me to change it or to do things differently. Either be ok with the way it's written or just don't read it at all.
> 
> Please know that I'm not mad at anyone and this is not directed at everyone or any one person. This also isn't just about comments I've gotten on this one chapter. This is just a general response to some of the comments I have gotten.


	9. Chapter Nine

“Basically, I continue to surprise myself with how difficult I can make everything for people around me,” Peter groaned. He was spread out horizontally on Ned’s bed with his head hanging upside down over the edge. Ned was sitting cross legged on the floor and working on a Lego castle.

“Ok, Peter,” Ned chuckled, looking through the directions to his set. “Have you seen the blue flag pieces?”

“Yeah, you put them on the desk,” Peter replied, flopping over so he was on his stomach instead. “I mean, I just feel like maybe this isn’t exactly fair to Tony.”

Ned rolled his eyes, smiling knowingly. “Just stop, Peter. You know he doesn’t see it like that. Um… did I already build the drawbridge?”

“Well, Steve is a jerk though! And he’s making Tony feel bad and I don’t like it,” Peter complained, draping his arms over the side of the bed and fiddling with some of the lego pieces Ned hadn’t used yet. “And, no. I already did that part. It’s behind you.”

“Oh,” Ned turned back and picked up the drawbridge, going to attach it to the rest of the castle. “So, Steve like Captain America? I thought he was a super heroic dude with a lot of good ideas and stuff.”

“Yeah, well,” Peter grumbled and flicked at some of the loose Legos scattered around.

“Hey, can I tell someone?” Ned asked suddenly, not making eye contact.

Peter look up at suspiciously. “Tell someone  _ what? _ ” He knew exactly what and he also knew that Ned knew that.

“It’s just that she keeps asking me stuff and I’m running out of stuff to stay!” Ned exclaimed, putting down the Legos he’d been holding. 

“Who?” Peter asked, propping himself up with his lower arms. “Mary Jane?”

“ _ Yes _ , Mary Jane!” Ned answered emphatically. “She knows something and she knows I know more than she knows and she’s  _ trying to break me _ .” His voice went down to a whisper at the last bit.

Peter groaned again and rolled his eyes. “Why won’t she just give up? This is ridiculous…  _ no _ , you can’t tell her. Just keep lying, please.”

Ned frowned and leaned back on his hands. “I’ll try but, Peter, eventually she’ll either find out what we’re hiding or she’ll get sick of being friends with a couple of liars. Or  _ both _ .”

He had a point, Peter had to admit. It wasn’t really fair to Mary Jane to just expect her to ignore their obvious lying and keep being their friend. They weren’t being very good friends themselves. And that went for Peter especially since he was also the one making Ned lie.

_ Woo-hoo, guilt is back. _

“Ok. I’ll… I’ll talk to Tony about it,” Peter said. “He’ll know something. He has to deal with this stuff all the time, right?”

“No, he doesn’t!” Ned laughed. “He told the whole world he was Iron Man. He doesn’t have to deal with this stuff at all.”

Well, that was true. Peter sighed in defeat. Maybe he  _ would _ just have to tell her…

-

Peter stayed at Ned’s house for the rest of the day. After the castle was finished, Ned wanted to start a treehouse set. Peter helped more with that one because he had pretty much finished ranting about everything and found it easier to just focus on Legos for a while after that.

It had only been a couple days since he and Tony had been at the compound and they hadn’t talked to any Avengers since then. They hadn’t really talked that much to each other either. Peter had meant to ask Tony if he’d heard anything about the glider guy when they got in the car but Tony had looked so exhausted that he just hadn’t been able to say anything to him.

They had spent the rest of that night watching a classic Star Trek marathon on tv. They had too much ice cream and didn’t have any actual dinner. Neither of them said much other than things like “what kind of ice cream do you want?” or “can you turn up the tv?” and just sat together instead. After a couple episodes, Tony pulled Peter a little closer to him on the couch and wrapped an arm securely around him, resting his chin on Peter’s head.

Peter didn’t say anything about the tears he could see on Tony’s cheeks when he got up a little later to get some water. There was no reason to say anything. He just curled closer into Tony’s side when he sat back down. They both felt safer when they sat like that.

The next day had been pretty uneventful and Peter had started feeling a little restless. Tony had continued to not feel like talking and had spent the day between watching tv with Peter and locking himself away in his workshop. Peter had thought about going out as Spider-Man a few times but figured Tony wouldn’t appreciate that very much.

So when Ned had texted him the next morning and asked if he wanted to come over to build Legos and play video games he had been pretty excited. He really just needed to get out.

“So, how’s your aunt, Peter?” Ned’s mom asked him as they sat at the table during dinner. Peter glanced at Ned who winced and looked down at his plate.

“Um… I think she’s doing ok, yeah.” Peter nodded and took a big bit of his food, hoping she would stop asking questions. 

“I never see her anymore. She hasn’t been at our baking class in a while so I was a little worried,” she explained. “The last time she was there she just seemed so sad and none of us have talked with her since then.”

Peter frowned. “When was that?”

She shrugged at him and looked up in thought. “Oh… maybe a few weeks ago in June.”

“Right…” his frown deepened. That must’ve been around the end of the school year. June. That had been a year since Peter had gotten his powers and a year since Ben had been shot… that must’ve been it. Peter suddenly felt horrible that May had been all alone that day to remember Ben by herself. “I think maybe if you guys are worried about her you should call her. Tell  _ her _ you’re worried. Try and get together or something. She probably misses you all.”

Ned’s mom nodded. “Well, maybe you can tell her we-”

“No,” he shook his head firmly. “I’m not telling her anything. She needs to hear that her friends care about her from them.” He looked over at Ned again. He was clearly trying not to make eye contact. More than likely trying to keep from telling his mom what had happened.

She nodded again and got up from the table. “That’s a good point, Peter. We’ll do that this week, alright?” She walked forward to the living room, which was connected to the kitchen, and picked up the television controller. “I hope you boys don’t mind if I turn on the tv. I like to watch the news sometimes while I eat.”

“That’s fine,” Ned said pleasantly, leaning towards Peter and then lowering his voice. “Hey, I’m really sorry.”

Peter shook his head dismissively. “No, it’s fine, Ned. I don’t -”

“ _ -new projects from Oscorp Industries coming this winter season, _ ” someone with an annoyingly fake voice said on the tv. Peter stilled and looked over at the screen, lowering his left arm under the table without thinking. “ _ Norman Osborn released a statement earlier this week saying that - _ ”

A picture of the man’s face blew up on the screen and Peter stopped hearing the words being said. He could feel a strange rush in his ears and couldn’t seem to get his eyes to point in a new direction.

_ Breathe. _

“Hey,” Ned said softly, though Peter wondered if he was really speaking that quietly or if Peter just couldn’t quite hear him right. “Peter, are you ok? Mom, can you watch something else?”

“What are you talking about?” She asked, her back still to the table. “I thought you boys loved science. I certainly think this is interesting.”

Peter forced his eyes to close but it didn’t help. That horrible grinning picture had been seared into his mind. Closing his eyes had only seemed to make it worse. It was more focused now but he couldn’t seem to get his eyes back open then.

Ned grabbed his arm suddenly and that helped a little since it made his eyes snap open in surprise. Then he was pulling him out of the chair and away from the kitchen altogether. Once they were in the hallway, Ned held Peter’s shoulders against the wall gently. “Are you ok?”

Peter nodded shakily, his eyes wide. 

“You should go home, shouldn’t you?” Ned asked carefully. “You need Tony, right?”

Peter nodded again, feeling horrible about it. He hadn’t been spending very much time with Ned at all and they had been planning to play one of Ned’s new games after dinner.

“Ok.” This time Ned was the one who nodded. “I’m going to walk you home and make sure you’re ok.” He leaned back in the direction of the kitchen. “Mom, Peter has to go home and I’m gonna walk with him! I’ll be back in a little bit, ok?”

“Oh, well alright,” she called back. “It was nice seeing you, Peter! You come back again soon, understand?”

Peter tried to say something in response but couldn’t get his mouth to work.

“He will!” Ned shouted for him, grabbing his elbow and pulling him out the door.

Being out in the evening air seemed to help Peter and he was breathing normally after walking for only about ten minutes. Ned didn’t let go of his arm until then but even when he did he kept a wary eye on his friend.

Peter didn’t say anything once he’d calmed down; just shoved his hands in his pockets and kept his eyes forward. He was glad he hadn’t completely panicked but still… it was a little embarrassing that he’d gotten as upset as he had. After all, it only been a name and a face. Nothing to be so worked up about.

Ned didn’t push him to talk while they walked, which Peter appreciated. Once they’d gone a little ways and Peter felt ok enough to keep going on his own, he told Ned to just go home. The tower was farther away than the Parkers’ apartment had been so Peter figured it might be a little strange for Ned to be gone that long if his parents still thought Peter lived as close as he had before.

Of course, still concerned about Peter, Ned had argued for a minute. He didn’t want Peter to walk that far all by himself. After Peter had reminded him that he had his suit and webshooters and could be there pretty quickly, Ned had agreed. He was a little tired anyway and didn’t  _ really _ want to walk all that way and back again.

And so Peter had changed in an alley, made sure Ned was ok on his own, and then swung off through the buildings to go home.

Except he wasn’t panicking anymore and he’d told Tony that he’d be back a lot later so why not stay out for a while? He was already in his suit, after all...

-

“Hey, by the way…” Spider-Man said to a man who was now hanging upside down from a lamppost. The web holding him up looked thin enough to snap from his weight but it would hold. “You haven’t happened to see any suspicious looking characters in the sky, have you? Not that  _ you _ would’ve been in the sky. You don’t seem like the flying type.”

The man’s face was bright red and terrified and that hadn’t really happened until he’d been strung upside down. Spider-Man was pretty sure this guy was scared of heights… and he wasn’t even  _ that _ far off the ground.

“It’s just that you strike me as someone who knows his way around the city,” Spidey continued conversationally. “I’m just looking for someone and thought you might’ve seen him…? No? Ok, well, I guess I’ll just be on my way then.” He shot a web at the building next to the one he’d caught this guy trying to break into. “Say hi to the cops for me, ok?”

Maybe it wasn’t the best way to find Glider Guy. In fact, maybe it was one of the worst. Peter could admit that. But he didn’t have any other ideas off the top of his head.

So he’d been rounding up amature thieves and thickheaded muggers all night and asking every one of them if they’d seen anyone flying around at nights. So far, he hadn’t had any luck. Though he  _ had _ been pretty successful in the crime fighting department.

Swinging from one building to the next, Peter caught sight of the tower and suddenly realized that he had no idea what time it was. Cursing under his breath, he stuck himself to a billboard and fumbled for his phone.

He didn’t like what he saw at all.

29 texts and 16 missed calls, all from Tony Stark himself. Not to mention it was nearing four in the morning. It struck Peter that maybe it would be a good time to go home.

-

“I’m sorry, are you trying to sneak in right now?” Tony called out the second Peter had entered the tower. He was standing right in front of the window Peter had just slipped quietly through.

Peter’s face fell under his mask, which he pulled off dejectedly and tossed onto the couch, moving around Tony. “I’m sorry. I just lost track of time.”

“Oh really?” Tony reached out and snatched Peter’s phone from his hand. He clicked the power button and saw the same notifications Peter had seen earlier. “Well, would you look at that?” He held the phone up with a false grin. “This thing  _ does _ work.”

Peter rolled his eyes and grabbed the phone back. “I didn’t hear it, Tony. Calm down. It’s not a big deal.”

“Uh,  _ yeah _ it is,” Tony scoffed. “You do not get to just ‘not hear’ your phone while you’re out swinging around the skyscrapers at four in the morning! Are you kidding me?”

“What? I was  _ helping people _ not going out drinking or something! Geez, Tony, lay off.”

Tony laughed humorlessly at that. “Really? Really, Peter? We talked about this already, remember? You don’t get to just stay out at -”

“You don’t get to tell me that,” Peter argued, trying to move past Tony again. “You’re not my  _ dad _ , Tony.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed at that. “Well, I’m pretty sure I’m the closest thing you have to one.”

Peter froze and turned back to face Tony again, his eyes filled with hurt and anger. “I’m not kidding. Stop pretending to be my dad.”

“I’m not  _ pretending anything _ , Peter, I’m just trying to-”

“Whatever,” Peter snapped, his voice filled with annoyance. Really, he was more tired than anything and would’ve been angry with just about anyone. And Tony knew that but it didn’t help.

“No! You know what, Peter, just no.” Tony pushed Peter’s shoulder down, making him sit on the couch. “What do you want? Do you want to stay with me? Or do want me to let Steve take you?”

Peter didn’t answer him.

“Tell me. What do you want?” Tony asked again, sitting across from Peter and leaning forward with his arms on his knees.

The teenager’s frown deepened. “I want to stay,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, that’s kinda what I thought,” Tony responded, sighing heavily. “And if you’re going to stay, you have to accept that you don’t get to just do whatever you want. We’re going to have some rules now. First, you do not  _ get _ to ignore your phone. Second, you are not allowed to stay out this late again, no matter what you’re doing.”

Peter sat forward and started to protest and Tony beat him to it.

“We’re not going to talk about this anymore so I want you to go to your room right now. I’ll lay down some more rules sometime tomorrow.” Tony rolled his eyes when Peter didn’t move but just stayed there with his jaw hanging open. “ _ Go _ , Peter. Room.  _ Now _ .”

Sighing, Peter stood up and left the room a little sulkily, not looking at Tony as he left. It was possible that he was frowning more than Tony had ever seen.

Tony stayed where he was, sighing again and burying his face in his hands. Had he screwed that up? He hadn’t expected Peter to be mad at him…

He’d never had to deal with a kid before and didn’t have any idea what he was doing. He was confident that it wasn’t unreasonable to expect Peter to come home at a decent time and to actually check his phone every now and again. But what if he hadn’t dealt with it correctly?

His first instinct was to call Rhodey and ask him since he always seemed so responsible but what would he know about this? He’d never had a kid and certainly not one who was trying to stay out all night fighting bad guys.

And was that really so wrong of him?

Not entirely. But Tony knew he had to try and maintain some kind of control if he was going to make sure he didn’t completely screw Peter over. But how much was too much? And how much was not enough? Tony had no idea.

But he figured he’d started so he had to stand his ground for the time being. And he was right, really, that if Peter wanted to stay with him they had to start making changes.

And Peter  _ did _ want to stay with him. Even when he’d been angry with Tony, he’d said that.

There was a part of Tony that loved thinking about that… and the other part of him felt more unsure. Peter so clearly looked up to him and wanted to stay with him and Tony couldn’t let himself mess it up. He cared too much about Peter to it screw up.

But it was terrifying to think about and he hated how much he didn’t know. That feeling was horrible and made him feel too small.

Deciding that he probably wouldn’t be getting any sleep at the point anyway, Tony figured he’d go to his workshop at least until the sun rose later. Almost lazily and without thinking, he grabbed a bottle from his dry bar on his way down. It was going to be a long morning and he figured it wouldn’t hurt to try and take the edge off a little.

He could worry more later.

-

“ _ Peter? Ned called me. He said you were freaking out about Osborn again, _ ” Tony’s voice in the recording on Peter’s phone spat the name like it was a filthy word. Peter guessed that it sort of us to some people. Mostly them. “ _ He was worried about you and now I am too… can you just… can you call me, please? _ ”

Peter sighed and set his phone down. He hadn’t been trying to worry anyone. After just sitting and tapping his fingers on his desk for a minute, he played the next message.

“ _ Hey, Peter. I gave it a little while and tried calling again. I’ve texted you a few times but I don’t think you’ve read them or else I’d like to think you would’ve texted back. I really need you to answer me soon, ok? _ ”

He opened his texts. They started out with decent sized paragraphs that were all just about the same as the messages. Then they shortened to one or two words each.

**Peter?**

**Hey! Peter!**

**Answer me.**

**Peter???**

**I’m worried.**

Peter was still frowning but it wasn’t a mopey immature one like before - which he was not proud of, by the way - now he was just sad. He hated that he’d scared Tony so much. And he understood a little more…

Tony hadn’t just been mad at him. Sure, he was probably mad too but he had good reason to be. Peter had really freaked him out. That wasn’t fair… he’d put so much into making sure Peter was ok and hadn’t let anyone stand in his way and now Peter had just about given him a heart attack.

He couldn’t help feeling bad about that. But, really, how wrong was it to stay out late if he was helping people and making a difference? He’d try to pay more attention to his phone but he still thought Tony was being just a little unreasonable. Maybe after he’d calmed down, he’d lighten up with his rules a little...

-

Really, both Peter and Tony had been surprised by how easily they’d moved on in the few days that followed their little argument. 

Tony had explained some of his expectations for Peter, which mostly just involved rules about when not to go out and how often to check in with Tony. It was weird to Peter because he’d never really had to worry about things like that before. Sure, sometimes his aunt and uncle had been upset when he’d missed a call or stayed out too late but they never really did anything about it. He said sorry and that was it. And he’d meant it too but they’d never really made an attempt to enforce anything like what Tony was trying to.

He didn’t hate it though. It was like a reminder of how much Tony cared and once Peter had cooled off he was able to understand that. Though he still hoped Tony would loosen up later on.

And Tony could understand how it was hard for Peter and was more than willing to work together. He didn’t want them to be enemies. 

So they moved on. 

It occurred to Peter that it had never been quite so easy to move on when he fought with his aunt. Even if they stopped talking about it, it felt different and weird. It always took at least a few days before things felt normal again and even then he would find himself looking back and wondering if they were really ok yet.. But with Tony they were able to go back to laughing together while they worked on their suits and eating ice cream before bed and there wasn’t a problem.

Peter loved that.

“What are you smiling about?” Tony asked, looking up from across the workbench. 

“Nothing, I’m just happy,” Peter answered, his smile growing. “I just really like… this.”

Tony smiled too, narrowing his eyes a little. “‘ _ This _ ’, what?”

“You know, just… just  _ this, _ ” Peter gestured between the two of him, his cheeks going a little pink. “I just like hanging out with you. I like how normal it feels.”

“Why? Is it because I’m famous?” Tony smirked, reaching in front of Peter to grab a screwdriver. “Yeah, everyone likes to be around me.”

Peter laughed. “First of all, I doubt that.”

Tony laughed too, leaning over to flick Peter’s upper arm. “Whatever, kid. What’s second?”

“Second is that I like being around you because you’re you and you mean a lot to me.” He looked down awkwardly and busied himself with the new webshooters he’d been working on. “It’s just… yeah.”

Tony smiled and shook his head. “I know what you mean,” he said softly, going back to his work too.

They worked silently across from each other for a few minutes before Peter looked up suddenly. “Hey, what time is it?”

“It’s almost ten. Wear your watch.”

Peter rolled his eyes. “I just didn’t put it on yet. Can we go have breakfast now?”

Tony looked up too, his expression confused. “You can have breakfast whenever you want. If you were hungry, you didn’t have to stay in here.”

“I was waiting for you!” Peter exclaimed, putting down his webshooter and getting up from his stool. “Come on. You have to eat too.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll catch up; you go ahead.”

Peter rolled his eyes and left the workshop, not expecting Tony to actually follow him. They’d gotten up at around seven to get an early start on some of their projects and breakfast just hadn’t fit in anywhere until then.

Just as he got to the kitchen, Peter’s phone buzzed in his pocket, making him jump a little. He pulled it out and saw that he’d gotten a text from Mary Jane.

**Hey, Tiger. What are you doing?**

Peter typed back a quick “nothing” and watched the screen as she typed her response.

**Is nothing code for something you aren’t going to tell me?**

Peter rolled his eyes and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He’d just answer her later. He hadn’t eaten yet and didn’t want to think about avoiding her investigations. Groaning a little, Peter opened a cupboard and pulled out a couple of plates.

“What’s the frustration?” Tony asked from behind him, startling him enough to make him jump. He would’ve dropped the plates if he hadn’t stuck his fingers to them out of instinct. Tony chuckled and took the plates from the unamused teenager. “I thought you were so happy just being in my presence and now you’re upset! Oh,  _ that’s _ why, huh? ‘Cause I wasn’t here?”

Peter cracked a grin and moved past Tony to dig around in the pantry and find his favorite bread. “I’m not upset.”

“What would you call it?” Tony asked as he plugged in the toaster oven.

“Um… mildly bothered?”

Tony looked at him over his shoulder and smirked. “Uh-huh. By what?”

Peter shrugged and handed Tony the bread. “Just a friend. She’s super nosy and is trying to make me tell her everything.”

“The one from the nurse's office?”

Peter cringed at the memory of that day but nodded. “Yeah, her name’s Mary Jane. She’s just… she knows I’m hiding stuff from her and it’s really hard to keep a few steps ahead of her.”

“You’re smart,” Tony shrugged and put some bread into the toaster, shaking his head at Peter as the teenager jumped up on the counter next to Tony and opened a jar of peanut butter. “You’ll manage. Was she texting you or were you just thinking about her?”

“She texted me,” Peter told him, sticking a spoon into the jar.

“But  _ do _ you think about her?”

Peter glared at him but couldn’t help the slow smile spreading across his face. He quickly shoved a spoonful of peanut butter into his mouth to hide it. It must not have worked though since he could see the glint in Tony’s eyes when he turned his attention away from Peter and back to the toast.

Now that it was done, Tony pulled the food out and got to work. 

“Hey, Pete,” he said, not looking up from the toast he’d started buttering. Peter hummed in response, looking into the jar as he scooped some more peanut butter out of it. “I have this science thing I’m supposed to be at tonight. Bruce is going too. I was thinking you could tag along if you wanted to.”

“Science thing? Like what?” Peter looked up at him interestedly.

“Well, there’s some new exhibition opening at the museum a few blocks down and they invited a bunch of big name scientists to their big opening. Said we could bring guests so I’m bringing you and Bruce.” He moved to another piece of toast and gave Peter the plate with the two he’d just finished. “If you want to, anyway,” he added.

“Yeah, totally,” Peter grinned. “That sounds really cool! Is it gonna be ok though? For me to… be there with you?”

Tony nodded casually, taking the peanut butter from Peter. “Yeah, I don’t see why not. Believe me, everything will be fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't think of anything to say on this one... I guess I'll just let you know that there's more to the stuff with the Avengers and it's not being ignored or unresolved. Just hang in there! ;D


	10. Chapter Ten

Peter’s eyes widened when he saw how many people were at the museum. And to think they’d gotten there early…

Tony put a strong hand on Peter’s shoulder. He leaned down a little, making sure only Peter could hear him. “If it’s too much, we can -”

“I’m fine,” Peter smiled gratefully. “I’ll let you know if I’m not, ok?”

Tony nodded and looked over at Bruce. “Are _you_ ok? I know you don’t love crowds.”

“Oh, I’m fine. I think I’ll just go look around if you two don’t mind.” Bruce smiled pleasantly, not actually waiting for any kind of answer from either of them before walking away.

Tony leaned a little closer to Peter again and said quietly, “He’s still a little… disapproving. Don’t worry about it.”

Peter nodded and gave Tony a small smile. “I’m not.” He really didn’t mind at the moment. Really, just let them be unhappy if they wanted to be. As long as no one was saying anything, Peter could ignore it for now.

They were for there for science anyway, not to worry about what the Avengers thought about anything.

No one really bothered Tony or Peter until the actual event began. A couple of people greeted Tony and one asked who Peter was. Tony just said he was a sort of intern and no one seemed to care much after that. They were free to look around all they wanted and keep to themselves. Peter found just about everything he saw interesting and had a million questions.

Bruce walked around with them for a few minutes at a time, happy to talk to Peter about the displays. But he’d always drift off on his own again.

Soon enough, more people flooded in only just in time for the event’s start. Of course, people wanted to talk to Tony then. He just turned most of them away at first but he could only do that for so long.

“Listen, Peter,” Tony said quietly, leading Peter towards a wall, away from the crowds. “I really have to start talking to people. I need to let them have some interviews. See, that’s why I was invited. They want press coverage and I’m a good way to get that. You can follow me around if you want to and we can say -”

“No, I’ll just wait over here,” Peter shook his head slightly. “I understand.”

“Really?” Tony asked, his tone unsure.

Peter nodded. “Yeah, I don’t mind at all. I can always go find Bruce if I get lonely or something, right?”

Tony nodded then, squinting his eyes at Peter momentarily before leaving him. He wanted to be sure. Still watching Peter uncertainly, Tony backed away slowly until someone stopped him to ask a question.

Peter stayed exactly where he was and watched Tony as he switched on his Stark charm and moved around the room. He would only talk to one person for a minute or two before moving on to the next.

Tony managed to make himself enjoyable to be around while still being Tony and not really giving anyone that much. When Peter paid enough attention to pick up what he was saying, Tony’s answers were all vague in the way that you would think you knew what just what he meant until he was gone and you thought back on it again, realizing you couldn’t really pinpoint a meaning because there were a few equally valid possibilities.

Every now and then, Tony would glance back at Peter. He was probably checking to make sure he hadn’t moved. And if he had, Tony probably just wanted to keep track of where he was. But he always managed to look inconspicuously with no one seeming to notice or care.

Peter was impressed. Tony knew how to use words and he knew the kinds of people surrounding him. He was smart in more ways than people knew.

Suddenly, a hand holding a glass of water moved directly in front of Peter’s face. He blinked at it, completely dumbfounded and trying to figure out why he could feel a slight but very uncomfortable buzz at the back of his mind.

“Would you like some water?” The voice by Peter’s ear made his blood run cold. He knew that voice. It was cold and deceptively friendly. He knew it too well.

“Well, at least… I _think_ it’s water. You never can tell.”

_Breathe. Breathe._

Slowly, Peter’s eyes turned to the side, meeting the ones staring at him with a cruel gleefulness that made Peter recall things he didn’t want to. His left arm slid behind his back, seeking cover.

_Breathe. In and out._

Peter could feel himself starting to shake. He tried as hard as he could to control it but that only made his breathing quicken. He ground his teeth together, his mouth pressing down to a small line.

Norman Osborn.

He was standing right there, now swirling the glass just a little. The water splashed just slightly against the inside of the glass but it sounded like crashing waves to Peter.

He flinched slightly, recalling feelings of something splashing over his face, unrelenting and horrible.

“Loud, isn’t it?” Osborn’s grin grew wider. “That’s a side effect I’ve noticed myself in my research…”

_Breathe. Breathe. Breathe._

All he wanted was to tear his eyes away but he couldn’t seem to manage to the movement.

Then, just as suddenly as he’d appeared, Osborn was yanked out of Peter’s line of sight.

Gasping and eyes widening, Peter slammed back against the wall. He heard some kind of painful crunch.

Everyone was shouting, gasping in shock. The shutters, clicks, and flashes of cameras all around drove Peter’s senses crazy. It felt like a stampede of sounds and lights trampling his brain.

And there was Tony.

He was standing over someone, gripping his bloodied fist. He leaned down, his eyes full of fire, and said something to the person under him. Peter tried to hear it but he was shaking too much to even think so he didn’t know if he got it right.

“You try that again… and I will do more than just punch you in your sick face.”

Lowering his gaze, Peter saw that the person cowering on the ground was Osborn, moaning and holding his jaw, which was bleeding profusely. Peter looked back up at Tony. Even with the wrathful glare he was giving Osborn and the satisfied grin on his face, just seeing him there made Peter feel more grounded. Safe.

The crowd of people started to merge in a way that blocked Peter’s view of Tony and Osborn. Everyone seemed to have a hundred questions for Tony, who wasn’t interested in providing any answers.

Tony pushed forward, nearly kicking Osborn in the head on his way. He shoved some people aside and grabbed Peter’s shoulders, pulling him away from the wall. Bruce appeared next to him and helped keep the people back, offering them some kind of excuse or explanation. Peter didn’t know what he was saying but he also didn’t really care just then.

Tony held onto Peter and forced their way to the door, not missing the opportunity to dig a foot into Osborn’s hand as they passed him. Bruce stayed behind to try and satisfy the crowds as much as he could.

Somehow, Tony managed to get them to the car without anyone stopping them. If Peter hadn’t been so distracted, he would’ve been thinking about how impressed he was.

Tony got Peter into the passenger seat and then rushed around to slip into the driver seat. As soon as his door was shut behind him, he turned to Peter. Gasping almost violently, Peter gripped the armrests so tightly he’d probably leave marks.

“Peter, can you look at me?” Tony asked, trying to keep the anger and his own panic out of his voice as much as he could. Peter’s head turned quickly to face him, his brown eyes shiny with tears. “Ok, we need to get your breathing under control. What can I do? Can you talk at all?”

Peter shook his head harshly. Tony frowned, unsure of what to do next. He started the car, hoping that maybe the air would help a little. It didn’t seem to make a difference to Peter but it helped to cool Tony down somewhat.

“You need to breathe,” Tony tried again, looking straight into Peter’s eyes, refusing to turn his attention elsewhere. “Please at least try, Peter. You’re going to have even more problems if you don’t have any air.”

Peter’s face screwed up, his mouth opening and closing a few times like he wanted to say something but couldn’t. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on just his breathing, which wasn’t getting any better.

“We’re gonna breathe together, ok, Pete?” Tony said, putting a hand on the side of Peter’s chair but not wanting to actually touch him. Sometimes it helped and sometimes it made it worse. He didn’t want to risk it yet. “You need to try to breathe with me. It’ll help, I _swear._ ”

Peter nodded shakily and tried to match his breathes to Tony’s overexaggerated ones. It took a few minutes but he eventually calmed his breathing enough to stop gasping. His eyes popped open and he looked at Tony, trying to see through the tears in his eyes.

“I-” he coughed a little, pulling his legs up on the seat with him. “I’m really sor-”

“ _No_ , Peter. No, _I’m_ sorry,” Tony insisted, now putting a hand on the back of Peter’s neck, making sure he didn’t turn away. “I had no idea he was going to be there and I should’ve found out first.”

Peter shook his head and opened his mouth to protest but Tony cut him off before he could start.

“I said it would be fine. I said _you_ would be fine and if you think _you_ should get to be sorry for any of this then I get to be at least _five times_ as sorry.”

There was no answer and Tony figured Peter just wasn’t up to arguing because he probably would’ve in another situation. Instead of saying anything, he just curled up tighter, pulling his legs as close to his chest as he could.

Tony ran a hand through Peter’s hair and smiled sadly. “Are you going to be ok?”

Peter nodded and sighed.

“I guess we’ll just head back to the tower then, ok?”

“No, don’t do that,” Peter said, furrowing his eyebrows and sitting up a little, though still hugging his legs. “You’re supposed to be in there. Don’t leave because of me.”

“It’s not -”

“What about Bruce? We drove him. We can’t just leave him there.”

Tony smirked a little. “I mean, we _could_. I wonder how green he’d get…”

“Tony!” When he looked at Peter, he noticed that he’d actually started crying now. He wasn’t sobbing or anything but the tears that had been building up were falling silently down his cheeks.

“Ok, ok. I’m sorry,” Tony leaned back in his seat, still watching Peter even though he wasn’t doing anything. “What do _you_ want to do?”

Peter shrugged. “I could just wait here until you’re done in there. I would… I would go in with you but I just…”

Tony shook his head, hating how shaken Peter still looked. “I wouldn’t let you even if you wanted to, Peter. And I’m not leaving you here by yourself.”

“Tony, I’m turning sixteen next week. I think I can handle sitting by myself in the car for a little bit.”

“I’m not doubting you,” Tony reassured him. “I just don’t feel comfortable with that right now, ok? I don’t know who else is here and I don’t know where he went and I’m not going to leave you alone.”

Peter sighed shakily and wet his lips. “Is it really ok to leave?”

Tony nodded immediately. “Absolutely, kid. Besides, I don’t know what I’d do if I went back in there and he hadn’t left yet…”

Tony didn’t miss the way Peter stilled at the mention of Osborn, even without using his name.

“Ok. I’ll go tell Bruce we’re leaving,” Tony said, grabbing the door handle. “He can come with us or I guess he can stick around and I’ll send Happy over for him later. I’ll be back in two minutes.”

Peter nodded a little and sunk down into his seat some more.

Just as Tony opened the car door and started to step out, he heard Peter behind him.

“Wait...” It was barely more than a whisper but Tony had heard it. He turned to face Peter again. He was curled up so much it made him look impossibly small. His eyes were closed tightly. “Can you just call him?”

Tony pulled his leg back into the car and shut the door, not taking his eyes off of Peter. “Sure, Peter. I’ll do that.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Peter breathed and Tony wasn’t even sure the kid realized he’d said it. Tony reached over to run his fingers through Peter’s hair again, a little confused about how much it comforted him to do that.

-

Peter didn’t saying anything on the way home. Tony kept glancing over at him, just to make sure he was ok. He wasn’t sure but he sort of thought Peter might’ve fallen asleep.

Once they got to the tower, Peter slipped out of the car and went straight to the couch to curl back up into a ball. Tony shook his head, smiling a little, and went to get some ice cream, just grabbing a few flavors he knew Peter liked so he could pick. They’d probably eat all of them anyway.

Peter took the s’mores flavor wordlessly and sighed as he pried the lid off. Tony took chocolate chip and sat down next to Peter, still watching him out of the corner of his eye.

“I’m not dying, you know,” Peter muttered, eating a spoonful of ice cream. “You don’t have to keep watching me like I’m going to implode.”

“I know,” Tony said simply, opening his own ice cream. “Are you breathing ok?”

Peter nodded, still not looking at Tony. “Yeah, I’m fine.” They were silent for a moment. “Hey, Tony?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you… do what you did?” Only then did Peter look up at him, his expression curious. “He didn’t even do anything to you…”

Tony looked at him incredulously. “Uh, yeah he did. He messed with you. And I meant what I said. I will do so much more than that next time.”

Peter frowned and shifted a little closer to Tony on the couch. “I really don’t _want_ there to be a next time.”

“Neither do I,” Tony agreed sincerely. “But if there is, I want to make sure you know I’ll do something about it.”

Peter nodded and turned his attention back to his ice cream again. They didn’t talk anymore while they finished their ice cream and Peter was both grateful for and hated the silence. He couldn’t seem to do much other than get lost in his thoughts.

He had tried in the months since it had happened to forget about it and move on from the Osborn incident. But it was becoming increasingly hard to do that. Now that he’d started to pop up in the news more frequently Peter was almost scared to turn on the tv or computer, never sure if he’d see that face. But even that had been somewhat manageable. He could turn that off. This was different…

Peter shuddered, the memory of not-water coming back again. That stuff really had felt horrible…

“Tony,” he said quietly, his voice sounding a little choked. “I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll just go to bed now, ok?”

“Do you want to sleep on the couch?” Tony offered. “We can watch crappy sci-fi movies until we fall asleep if you want.”

Peter shook his head and stood up, needing to stretch a little after sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest for so long. “No, I’m ok. Maybe another time?”

Tony nodded but there was a crease in his forehead, like he was trying to figure something out. “If you’re sure… I’ll stay out here though. So if you need me, just come back to the couch, ok?”

Peter nodded and assured Tony that he would be fine but appreciated it anyway. He was wrong.

He only slept for about an hour before Tony heard him sobbing through a nightmare. Tony went to wake him up and bring him back to the couch. They still didn’t talk but this time Peter agreed to spending the night curled up in a comfy blanket and watching sci-fi shows.

Peter fell asleep again after only a couple minutes, his head leaning against Tony’s shoulder and tears still streaking his cheeks. He was really sick of crying.

Unfortunately, he still woke up a few times, shaking and crying after another bad dream. But now he was with Tony who wrapped his arms around him and made everything better, at least in those moments.

-

“Peter, grab a couple bags of chips,” Tony said, his tone sounding a little bit annoyed. Tony preferred to do his shopping late at night, when most people would be asleep. That way he wouldn’t be approached by as many people. But Peter had insisted that they did not have the right kind of sliced cheese and they had to go buy it right then or they couldn’t make grilled cheese sandwiches. So there they were. And if they were already at the store, they figured they’d pick up the other things on their grocery list as well.

“Ok, what kind?” Peter asked, looking at Tony over his shoulder on his way to the shelf the chips were on.

“Whatever you want. Come on,” Tony answered impatiently, glancing around to make sure no one was looking at him.

Peter rolled his eyes and grinned, just picking up the first kinds he saw since he and Tony liked most of them anyway. He hurried back over to put them in the cart so they could keep moving.

“What else do we need?” Tony asked, tugging his baseball cap down a little. “Look at the list.”

“Uh… let me see,” Peter said, searching for the list in his pocket. “Ok, um, we need to get some more apples and that’s it.”

“Great. Keep walking. Hey,” Tony turned to Peter when he heard him chuckling. “Don’t laugh at me! I don’t want to get caught. We’re supposed to be at the compound in time for dinner and I don’t want to get stuck here taking pictures with fans.”

“Ok,” Peter rolled his eyes again, still smiling. “Let’s skip the apples. We can just check out.”

“Yeah, ok,” Tony agreed, stepping up his pace a little. They got to the lines pretty quickly and only had one person in front of them. Tony was about to mention how grateful he was of that when Peter cursed under his breath behind him. Tony turned around and saw Peter staring at the racks of magazines.

A number of the daily ones had pictures of Tony either mid punch or standing above a bleeding Osborn from the night before. A couple had just included that story in the corner of the covers but others had blown up a picture and come up with some attention grabbing headline about it.

“Well, they sure move fast, don’t they?” Tony smirked.

“Tony, I am so sorry! This is my fault. None of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t -”

“Hey,” Tony cut him off, not liking the distressed expression that had replaced the good natured smile Peter had been wearing almost the whole day. “There have been stories way worse than this about me, ok? I don’t care. In fact, I’m actually pretty proud of these.” He reached forward and grabbed one of each, deciding he wanted to read what people were saying about it. There was probably quite a lot of speculation about the whole thing and he was intrigued.

“You… you don’t care?” Peter asked, still looking at the magazines.

“C’mon, it’s our turn,” Tony said, moving the cart up to the register. “Keep up, Pete.”

Peter hurried over to stand at the other end of the cart and load it back up as everything went through the register. “Ok, but… you honestly don’t mind that stuff?”

“Peter, I told you already,” Tony sighed patiently, handing the apparently oblivious cashier his card. “I’m actually pretty proud of it. Stop feeling guilty.”

“I’m not feeling…” Peter’s shoulders sagged a little, as he realized that wasn’t entirely true. “Yeah, ok.”

Really, he had to admit he was feeling pretty good then. He couldn’t help feeling not only protected but now just loved as well. Tony genuinely wasn’t mad about this story being spread around. He didn’t seem to care what people would think of it and it was because he was proud that he’d been able to protect Peter.

There was a part of Peter that automatically wanted to look for another reason that Tony was so proud of this. But Peter was smart and logically… not much else made sense.

Tony was proud that he had punched Norman Osborn in the face and gotten him away from Peter. And Peter loved how warm he felt inside knowing that.

-

They got to the compound five minutes after the agreed time.

The only reason they were going was for a meeting. There was nothing particularly important happening so Tony had wanted to just skip it. Steve had gone off on some talk about everyone needing to put in the same amount and how Tony already didn’t spend much time at the compound and Peter had suggested they just go and play nice for a while.

Really, he had just wanted to see Wanda and Bucky. They had started another game of monopoly the last time he and Tony had been there and had only been able to play a couple turns each. Wanda promised to leave it the way it was until the next time he came so he was hoping to finish the game.

Since they were going around dinner time anyway, Clint had suggested they just stay and Tony had only agreed when he saw how excited Peter looked about it.

Things were still pretty uncomfortable between them and the Avengers so they hadn’t spent that much time around any of them. But Peter still liked to go and he missed his friends there. That and he didn’t think it was good to keep being angry about it. Eventually, they would just have to move on.

As soon as they’d gotten there, Wanda had grabbed Peter’s hand and pulled him off to find Bucky and play monopoly. Tony was glad Peter liked to spend time with them but he hated to be left to deal with Steve alone, even if he wouldn’t have wanted Peter to have to be a part of it anyway.

Once the meeting had finished, everyone gathered around what had generally been accepted as the living room. Everyone who hadn’t actually been in the meeting was already there. Wanda, Peter, and Bucky were sprawled out around the coffee table, still playing monopoly. Everyone else was sitting around on the couches reading or watching tv. Tony wasn’t sure what was on but he wasn’t really paying attention to it.

Almost as soon as he walked into the room, Tony noticed one of the magazines he’d seen at the store sitting on a corner table. He frowned a little as he looked at it, wondering who had been reading it.

“I was planning to ask you about that,” Steve said, seeing Tony staring at the magazine. “What happened?”

Peter looked up from the game on the coffee table. He frowned a little, watching Tony and waiting to see what he’d say. Steve noticed him looking and gestured for Tony to step into the other room.

Clint followed them through the doorway, looking a little concerned. Peter tried to ignore it and focus on the game again but he was too curious.

He moved a little so he was slightly closer to the door and tried to focus on hearing what was being said. He caught Bucky’s eye and the soldier’s eyebrow quirked upward a little, though he didn’t say anything.

“Tony, think about this,” Steve was saying. He sounded exasperated. “What is it going to do to your image - _our_ image as a team, really - for you to go around punching upstanding members of the community in the face just because they rub you the wrong way. And maybe more importantly, what about Peter? See, this is why you shouldn’t -”

“Steve,” Tony said warningly, like he was trying to stay civil but wouldn’t be able to if Steve kept going the way he was. Peter’s frown deepened a little and he looked back at Bucky again, wondering if he could hear them too.

“I’m just saying,” Steve continued. “What is this going to teach him?”

“That I care,” Tony snapped in response almost immediately. “Yeah, I punched him. Broke his jaw actually. Would’ve liked to do a little more. You know what made me do it, Steve? I was protecting my kid. And I’ll do it again.”

Peter couldn’t hear anyone and didn’t know if they’d gotten quiet or just stopped talking altogether. Bucky smiled a little at him and Peter figured that he _had_ been listening in as well.

A moment later, Steve came back into the living room, going through to the kitchen to pour himself some coffee. He looked a little uncomfortable and Peter really wished he knew if Tony had said something else or not…

“Don’t worry about what Steve says,” Peter heard Clint say, still in the other room. He turned all his attention back to that again, ignoring what Steve was doing. “You did good, Tony.”

“... Did I?” Tony asked a little uncertainly.

“Yeah, of course,” Clint said emphatically, making Peter smile a little. “You were just doing what a dad _should_ do. You were looking out for your kid and not worrying about anything else. That’s a good thing.”

“Clint,” Tony chuckled awkwardly. “I’m not exactly his dad. I’m just…”

Peter stilled, waiting to hear if Tony was going to finish his sentence. What was he?

“Tony. You keep calling him your kid,” Clint replied. “What does that mean to you if not that you’re his dad?” Tony didn’t say anything and Peter tried harder to hear them. “You protect him, right? And you’ve been looking after him in every way you can for the past… how many months now?”

“Well, since the middle of May…” Peter could imagine Tony shrugging there. They were already in August by then.

“Tony, if you aren’t his dad then please tell me what you are at this point,” Clint said with a little laugh. “Because I’m actually kind of curious.”

He didn’t say anything and Peter kind of want to just go in there ask for himself because this was driving him crazy. But then Tony finally answered.

“I guess… yeah, I guess I _am_ his dad, aren’t I?” He said it confidently. He sounded even prouder than he had when they saw the magazines at the store.

Peter looked over at Bucky, who was grinning knowingly at him. Well, now he _knew_ Bucky could hear them too.

“Um,” Peter cleared his throat, hoping his cheeks weren’t as red as he thought they were. “Sorry… whose turn is it now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok... so Norman Osborn.
> 
> If you read That's Not A Hug: Part 2, then you probably understand what's going on here. If you didn't, I suggest you do because this is probably confusing otherwise. If you just want to refresher or don't want to bother going back to read that, basically Osborn knows was trying to experiment on Spider-Man. He had this shady lab in a closed of sector of the sewer. Iron Man had to come save the day. Peter has some scars from it still. Osborn had this stuff, which Peter dubbed 'not-water', which basically a topical sedative. It really freaked Peter out a lot so that's the deal with the water in this chapter.
> 
> As far as the scars... some people feel that Spider-Man shouldn't get scars because of his healing factor. His healing factor is also inconsistent and not just within fanfiction. Through various comics and shows and movies, it varies a lot in how powerful it is and how fast it is and stuff. So... in this, he can get scars but maybe not as easily and they probably fade faster/more than on a normal person. If it's a deep wound, therefore taking longer to heal, he'll probably get a scar. If it's smaller and heals itself up in a day or two, it's not likely to scar.
> 
> Now, let me just get into Steve's head a little bit again... no one told the Avengers what happened in That's Not A Hug. Steve has no idea what Osborn did to Peter and thinks he's just a respected scientist. Also, Bruce is probably the one who told them what happened at the exhibition and he doesn't even really know. he kinda just knows that Osborn was standing near Peter and suddenly Tony was seeing red and broke the guy's jaw. Steve is just reading this as Tony losing his temper and probably over something small.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Peter was sitting cross-legged on the roof of a building with a bag of cookies in his lap when he heard it. He’d gone out in his Spider-Man suit almost as soon as he and Tony had gotten home after having dinner with the Avengers. He’d swung around for a while, though nothing much had been going on. Eventually, at sometime close to midnight, he decided he was hungry and went to get a snack.

But just as he’d started his second cookie, he heard someone scream. It had come from the store just across the street from where he was sitting. It was an open 24/7 convenience store that Peter had noticed ran into a lot of problems. He wasn’t sure why since they weren’t likely to have that much money or anything… but whatever the reason, it was a hotspot for punks who just felt like emptying a cash register.

Sighing, Peter set down his bag and pulled his mask down over his mouth again. He swung down to the street and poked his head in the door.

“Well, hey there,” he said cheerfully. Doing a quick scan, Peter noticed a couple masked guys with guns, one cashier, and about five customers. One man had a gun pointed to the cashier and was holding out a bag for the money. The other was moving his gun from one customer to the next, making sure none of them moved. “I _thought_ I heard some people in here.”

Before either of the men had even tried to make a move, he shot a web at the second one’s gun, yanking it out of his hand and popping the magazine out, tossing the empty gun away.

“Hey!” The man shouted before lunging forward. “You can’t just do that!”

“Uh, _yeah_ I can,” Peter remarked, stepping aside so the masked idiot hit his head on the glass door and missed Spider-Man entirely. “Pretty sure I did?”

The other man dropped his bag and pointed his gun at Spidey, his hands shaking a little. “Don’t move! I’ll pull this trigger!”

“What if I’m bulletproof though?” Peter shrugged, putting his open hands out at his sides. “You don’t know.”

“Fine,” the guy spat, jerking his arm to the side and pointing his gun at one of the customers instead. “I’ll shoot her.”

Peter froze, glancing in the direction the gun was pointed. He couldn’t let this guy shoot a civilian so he’d have to - well, _crap_.

It wasn’t just a random civilian because would anything ever be simple for Peter? No, this was someone he knew. This was Mary Jane Watson.

Of course she was glaring at the guy pointing a gun in her face. She _would_.

“Hey, lower the gun, man.” Peter put a hand out cautiously, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the other guy wasn’t going to try anything. He wasn’t unconscious but he seemed pretty winded so Peter turned his attention back to the one still standing. “There is no reason for this to get nasty.”

“You’re the one coming in here beating people up in a leotard!” The guy yelled, thrusting the gun closer to Mary Jane. She flinched, her brave face faltering. Peter wasn’t used to seeing her like that and he didn’t like it at all.

_Breathe. You don’t get to panic right now._

“Ok… just put down the gun,” Peter said again, completely lost as to what else to say to him to get him to listen. “Please, can you just… just calm down and we can -”

“Stop talking so much!” The man exclaimed frustratedly, suddenly pulling the gun back and cocking it before shoving it back in Mary Jane’s face again. “Just _leave_ and let me go about my business or I’ll shoot this kid’s face off!”

Normally, Peter would just try and get the gun away. He was good and he knew it. He could stop this guy without anyone getting hurt. But not now. Now, he was scared and all he could think was that if he screwed up even a little Mary Jane could be killed. But not doing anything wasn’t exactly helping either.

He glanced at Mary Jane, who was staring at him now. She had her eyes narrowed in that way that made him want to sink into the ground. Like she _knew_ something.

Crap, crap, _crap_.

He’d been talking too much.

Taking a deep breath first, Peter shot a web straight at Mary Jane. He yanked her to his side as soon as the web connected with her. Peter wasn’t sure if was an accident and the guy had just been startled or if he’d legitimately been trying to shoot her but right as he’d pulled her out of the the gun had gone off. It went into the freezer behind where Mary Jane had been standing, shattering the glass and demolishing some orange juice bottles.

The other customers and the cashier ducked when the bullet hit. Peter shoved Mary Jane behind some shelves.

“Stay down!” he shouted before shooting a web, trying to get the gun out of the man’s hand. He missed and the guy fumbled to cock it again. Peter shot a web in his face and kicked a leg out under him, making him fall over. The gun flew into air and Peter caught it with a web, attaching it to the ceiling.

As soon as he’d webbed the two crooks up, he looked around at everyone. Most of them were still cowering behind things.

“Is everyone ok? No one got hurt?” He tried to lower his voice a little but wasn’t sure it was working. He turned to the cashier after getting nods of confirmation from some of the customers. “Call the police, ok? Just leave these guys there. They won’t get out before the police show up so you don’t have to worry about them.”

A few of the customers were hurrying to get out of the store and go home now that the threat had been taken care of. But not Mary Jane. Peter wasn’t surprised.

Rather than leave, she came right up in front of him. “Hey,” she said quietly. “Thanks for saving me, Spider-Man. That was pretty scary.”

He nodded and stepping back a bit, putting some distance between them. “Of course. Are you… are you ok?”

Mary Jane nodded but narrowed her eyes again, almost smirking but not quite. “You should probably go,” she suggested. “Someone else might need your help. We can clean up here.” She gestured to the cashier and the other customer still in the store, who Peter realized was Mary Jane’s Aunt Anne.

Normally he liked to try and help with things like that but Peter just nodded and left, swinging back to the tower without going back for his cookies.

-

It was almost two when Tony decided to turn in for the night. He’d waved goodbye to Peter when the teenager told him he was going out and then he’d gone straight to his workshop. He’d gotten a lot done and was ready to call it a night.

When he came out to the living room, Tony noticed that there was a window cracked open. It was creating an unwelcome breeze so he went to close it. Just when he turned around to go towards his bedroom, he noticed Peter collapsed on the couch. He was still in his suit and fast asleep.

“FRIDAY, how long has Peter been here?”

“One hour and twenty-three minutes, boss,” the AI answered him.

Tony shook his head a little but he was glad to know Peter hadn’t been out too late. He went over to the couch and brushed Peter’s hair out of his eyes, accidentally making them flutter open open halfway.

“Hey, Dad,” Peter mumbled, smiling sleepily and probably not aware of what was going on. “How are you?”

Tony chuckled and shook his head. “I’m doing great. You seem pretty tired though.”

Peter hummed in response, his eyes closing again slowly. He blinked a couple times, trying to keep his eyes open and focused.

“We’ll talk in the morning ok?” Tony picked up a blanket and draped it over Peter. “Just go back to sleep.” Peter nodded and pulled the blanket up over his shoulder, rolling more onto his side. Tony ruffled his hair before walking back to his room to get some sleep.

He really did want to talk to Peter in the morning… Hopefully one or both of them would remember that.

Luckily, he did remember. Not when he actually woke up but when he came out of his room and saw Peter still on the couch. He wasn’t sleeping anymore but was still wearing his suit. He had already made himself breakfast and was watching tv while he read a book. He had his feet up on the edge of the coffee table, using his knees to prop the book up.

“School again?” Tony asked.

Peter looked up at Tony when he heard him. “Uh, yeah… It’s just… I like doing it early.”

“Why exactly?” Tony asked, going to get some coffee.

“Well, mostly because it’s fun. I just have to ask what we’re doing next year and then I get stuff early and work on it during break.” Peter looked back down at his textbook, taking notes while he spoke. “I’ve always done that but now it’s good because if I miss classes and stuff I already know what we’re covering so it doesn’t hurt my grade so much.”

Tony frowned, taking out a mug. “Why are you missing classes? Because of Spider-Man? Peter, just text me and I’ll take care of stuff like that while you’re in school.”

Peter waved him off a little. “Yeah, I know. But that’s a recent thing. I didn’t always have that option, Tony.”

“About that…” Tony came over to the couch, nudging Peter a little so he could sit by him.

“About… skipping class?” Peter asked, turning off the tv and closing his book. Tony shook his head and set his coffee down on the table by Peter’s feet.

“No… do you remember last night when I said we’d talk in the morning?”

Peter nodded slowly, looking confused.

“Do you remember anything else?” Tony asked hesitantly. He didn’t have any idea how to go about this conversation. It felt awkward and he wasn’t really certain about what he was hoping for.

At first, Peter looked like he was trying to remember and then a look of realization appeared in his eyes. His face went pink. “Which thing?”

“There wasn’t that much, kiddo,” Tony smiled, watching Peter look more and more embarrassed. Tony knew Peter didn’t really have to ask. “Hey, I’m not mad at you.”

“Yeah, I know,” Peter answered, his words rushed. He stared intently at the cover of his book. “I… heard you at the compound yesterday.”

Tony nodded slowly. “Oh. Were you going to say something?”

Peter looked at him then, his face still a little pink. “Were _you_?”

“Well… I was just trying to.”

“But what if I hadn’t... said that?” Peter pushed. “Were you going to say something anyway?”

“I’m not sure when but… yeah,” Tony answered him. “Of course I was.”

Peter nodded and look down again. “Ok. So what do you want to talk about?”

Tony was silent for a moment, trying to find the right words. He picked up his mug and sipped it quietly for awhile, watching as Peter went back to his work while he waited for some kind of answer. It struck him how much he liked to just be around Peter. “You’ve said it a few times now. I wasn’t really sure if you knew that.”

Peter set his pencil down and bit his lip. “I knew. At least, I _thought_ … it’s confusing because it’s times where it’s hard to remember what actually happened and what I was just thinking and - and you never said anything so I didn’t… I didn’t know for sure, I guess. How many times have I said it?”

“Three now, I think,” Tony answered.

“Oh,” Peter said, sounding surprised.

Tony cocked his head to the side. “Were you thinking higher or lower?”

Peter looked at him, only moving his eyes. “Um… I would’ve guessed that I actually _said_ it, like, seven times.”

“How many times have you _thought_ it?” Tony asked him curiously.

Peter’s face went pink again. “Tony, come on,” he breathed, running a hand through his hair and looking thoroughly embarrassed.

“Hey, Peter, I’m not trying to make you feel bad, ok?” Tony told him, setting his mug down again and repositioning himself on the couch so that it was easier to look at Peter. “I’m just… it’s not wrong.”

Peter didn’t answer but didn’t look away from Tony either.

“I want to talk to your aunt again, Peter.”

His eyebrows furrowed and he started to frown a little. “Again?”

“Well, I tried talking to her before and she didn’t really… want to listen. She said she would call me but she never did,” Tony told him, feeling a little agitated just thinking about it.

“What did you want to talk to her about?”

“I think you know,” Tony shrugged.

“Me?” Peter suggested.

Tony chuckled and shook his head. “Yes. More specifically, legal guardianship. I want to adopt you, Peter. I want you to be a Stark and I want to be your legal dad.”

Peter was silent again and then he turned his face away once more, chewing distractedly on his bottom lip. Tony couldn’t help feeling that he’d messed it up somehow. This wasn’t how he’d expected this conversation to go, though he guessed he hadn’t really had any actual expectations anyway.

“I know… it’s going to be process. There’s a lot we’d have to do to be able to get to that point,” Tony continued, figuring that since he’d already started talking and Peter wasn’t saying anything it wouldn’t hurt to just keep going. “It wouldn’t change that much, really. Your name would be different and we’d have to change up our routine a little bit but I feel like we’ve already started doing that anyway. It wouldn’t be a secret… what are you thinking?”

“I… I don’t know,” Peter looked at Tony again. He looked conflicted, like he didn’t know how to feel. “I want to feel guilty. But I don’t know why and I don’t know what I would be guilty _about_ and… I’m just…”

“Just what?” Tony prodded.

“I’m just… I’m happy,” Peter smiled a little. “I’m happy that you want that… because _I_ want that.”

“Really?” Tony laughed, feeling so relieved he thought he might cry. “Well then, I guess we’ll just have to start trying to move things forward, huh?”

“I… yeah,” Peter nodded, his expression uncertain like he was having trouble catching up to what had happened. “I mean, when do you think...?”

“We need to get May to agree first,” Tony explained. “I don’t really want to do this any other way if I can help it.”

Peter nodded again and Tony could see the gears working in his head. “Ok… so what can I do?”

Tony smiled fondly at him. “Nothing right now. Except tell me what you want to do for your birthday.”

“What?” Peter said with a disbelieving laugh. He shoved his book to the side and pulled his legs up to sit cross-legged. “That doesn’t matter right now!”

“Yeah, it does,” Tony argued downing the rest of his coffee and standing up to go refill it. “It’s in four days,” he put up a finger, “counting today! And we’ve barely talked about it. I already know what I’m giving you.”

“No, you don’t have to-”

“Peter.” Tony turned around with a deadpan expression on his face. “We’re talking about actual adoption here and you think I’m not going to give you a birthday present? I would’ve given you a birthday present even if you were still living with your aunt.”

Peter just rolled his eyes with a smile. Tony was glad mentioning May didn’t shut Peter down like it had before. It had been long enough that he’d gotten used to not being with her and being reminded of the situation didn’t depress him like it used to.

“Well, aren’t you going to ask what I’m giving you?” Tony asked, pouring more coffee into the mug.

“That’s not how it’s supposed to work,” Peter pointed out, going over to the kitchen to put his breakfast dishes in the washer.

“I’m going to give you a new phone to replace that piece of crap you’ve _been_ using,” he said, ignoring Peter. “If you’re going to keep telling me you aren’t hearing it when I’ve called a thousand times, you clearly need a new one. Of course, I could’ve said that before too. That thing is so outdated.”

Peter just rolled his eyes again, reaching up to the cupboard to get himself a mug.

“You’d better not be planning to have coffee,” Tony laughed. “Caffeine is the _last_ thing you need. You have way too much energy for such a small person already.”

“I’m not! I’m just making hot chocolate, like I always do,” Peter assured him setting the mug down and going to get milk.

Tony scoffed. “I’m pretty sure you’re addicted. You literally just ‘like I always do’ and it’s actually _true_. How many cups of that do you drink in a day?”

“ _One_ ,” Peter accentuated. “Just in the morning with breakfast. It’s not that bad!”

“Mhmm,” Tony hummed into his mug.

Peter gave him a playful glare, his jaw hanging open in mock offense. “You’re the one drinking another cup of coffee right after the first one!”

“Oh please,” Tony rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “I’m an _adult_ , Peter, I can do whatever I want. Wait a couple years.”

-

“Wait, so Tony Stark wants to be your dad?” Ned practically squealed, trying to keep his voice down. Peter shushed him for the hundredth time since they’d been there and glanced nervously at the door.

The plan had been for Peter, Ned, and Mary Jane to meet up at their favorite pizza place for lunch and catch up before the next school year started. They had hardly spent any time all together that summer and when they had it was almost always cut short, which was usually Peter’s fault. The agreement was that Peter was not allowed to leave unless the other two both agreed he could. Of course, Ned knew why Peter was always leaving and would push to let him go if he really had too.

Mary Jane was late and Ned had insisted that Peter tell him all about his conversation with Tony, which he had only briefly mentioned in a phone call the night before when he was confirming that he’d be at lunch.

The last thing Peter wanted was to be in the middle of telling Ned about everything only to have Mary Jane show up and hear something she shouldn’t have. As a result, he wasn’t completely focused.

That and he was a little worried about her still. She’d seemed ok physically but Peter wondered if maybe what had happened at the convenience store had shaken her more than he’d thought. He had considered calling her later in the day, just to make sure she was ok. But if she really was suspicious already, calling to ask about something he shouldn’t have known a thing about was not going to help him at all. And just happening to call right after something like that when he’d hardly spoken to her in the past two months… well, she was just too suspicious of him for that anyway.

“Ned,” Peter sighed. “ _Yes_ , ok? I already told you. Can we please talk about something else now?”

“No way!” Ned exclaimed. “You can’t change the subject until MJ gets here.”

Peter groaned. “ _Ned_ , what if someone hears?”

“Who’s listening?” Ned scoffed, leaning as far as he could across the table while still staying in his seat on the booth. “Come on, just tell me again. What did he say?”

“ _Ned_ ,” Peter covered his face with his hands, drawing out his friend's name. “I don’t want to keep talking about it right now!”

“Talking about what?”

Peter’s eyes rolled upwards slowly as he dragged his hands down his face. Of course she would show up the second he stopped thinking about it.

“Scoot over, Ned,” Mary Jane said, waving a hand in his direction until he slid towards the middle of the round booth so she could sit where he had been. “Wow, Peter, you sure look tired.”

“Thanks,” he flashed a forced grin. “I try.”

Mary Jane kicked him under the table. “What were you talking about?”

“Nothing, Mary Jane,” Ned answered before Peter could. “I was just annoying him.”

Peter rolled his eyes at that. He slid out of the booth and stood up. “Ok, well now that we’re all here, I’ll go order a pizza. Ned, just talk about the movie you went to this weekend, ok?”

“You can’t tell Ned what to talk about,” Mary Jane called over her shoulder as Peter walked away, then turned back to Ned again. She leaned closer to him, one hand on the table and one on the back of the booth. “Ned, what were you guys talking about?”

Ned’s eyes widened. “What? Nothing! I already _told_ you that.”

“Ned, the other night I was at the store and these two guys came in and -”

“It should be ready in fifteen minutes,” Peter said, sliding back into the booth. “What are you doing?” Peter sighed as Mary Jane straightened back up and Ned deflated a little, looking gratefully at his friend.

Mary Jane folded her arms on the table. “I was trying to tell Ned about something that happened to me the other night.” She was staring at him again. That same soul searching stare he’d faced all year in school.

“And what would that be then?” Peter asked innocently - or at least he hoped.

Mary Jane narrowed her eyes a little, almost smirking. _Why?_ “I sort of thought maybe you knew. Thought you might’ve heard something at least.”

Peter looked at Ned, sharing a worried glance. “Ok?”

“Well, I just thought since you’re interning with Tony Stark this summer you’re probably pretty up to date with all the superhero stuff, right?”

“Interning with…” He looked back at Ned, who shrugged apologetically. “Where did you hear that?”

Mary Jane shrugged, looking pretty pleased with herself. “Ned told me. Well, he confirmed it.”

Peter sighed again and folded his arms, putting his face down in them and trying to block out his life. He supposed that since Tony said it wouldn’t be a secret when he adopted him, Mary Jane would have to find out eventually. So thinking that he was interning with him was not the worst thing to happen.

But she also clearly thought she knew more than that. And maybe she did.

Peter was tired of having smart friends.

“You’re not really answering me so I’m going to assume you _did_ hear about the other night,” Mary Jane told him, mimicking his position but with her face pointed up, looking at the top of his head.

Ned cleared his throat awkwardly. “Well, _I_ didn’t so can someone tell me about it?”

“Oh, sure,” Mary Jane agreed. “There was a hold up and Spider-man came and saved everyone.”

“Really? I didn’t hear about that!” Ned gushed.

“Wait!” Mary Jane suddenly exclaimed, both she and Peter sitting up quickly. She was pointing a finger at Ned and wearing a smirk on her face. _As usual_. “Why did you look at Peter when you said that?”

“ _What?_ ” The two both replied simultaneously. Peter was glad they’d both decided to play oblivious.

“Oh, you both know exactly what I’m - Peter, what’s wrong?”

Peter had slammed a hand down onto the table without thinking, surprised by a sudden sharp pain at the back of his mind. Ned and Mary Jane were both looking at him worriedly. He folded his lips in and raised his eyebrows breathing in through his nose.

“Uh… sorry,” he said, pulling his out from his pocket and unlocking it under the table. “I just… I need to text Tony real quick. Just - just keep talking, I’m fine.” Neither of them looked convinced but he didn’t have time to worry about it.

**Tony, something’s wrong. My spidey sense is going crazy. I’m going to investigate. Don’t be worried!**

He shoved his phone back in his pocket and looked back up at his friends. “Um… I might need to leave.”

“What? No!” Mary Jane said at the same time that Ned nodded and said, “Yeah, ok!”

“Look, I’m sorry, but I have -” He stopped speaking then, his eyebrows furrowing. He turned to look out the window and saw a large and greenish man hovering on a glider. He wasn’t doing anything. The glider was about seven feet from the ground, right in the middle of the street, and all he was doing was looking around the area. There weren’t a lot of people around so nothing really seemed to be happening yet.

Ned and Mary Jane turned to look at whatever Peter was seeing, their jaws dropping when they saw him.

“Peter, what is that?” Ned asked, turning back to his friend.

But Peter was already gone.

Hurrying through the back, Peter called Tony on the Dad Phone, relieved when he answered the second it started ringing.

“ _Hey, kid, I just read your text. What’s happening?_ ”

“I don’t know yet,” Peter said, tugging off his jacket while he spoke on the phone pressed between his cheek and shoulder. “It’s the glider thing Bucky told me about. I told you about that, right?”

“ _Peter, what?_ ”

Peter groaned. He was out the door now, trying to change in the alley. He webbed the phone to the wall and put in on speaker so he could finish getting in his suit. “Tony, I think I can handle him. Just keep your phone on you so I can call if I need help, ok? I don’t really know what he is yet.”

“ _You know I always do,_ ” Tony told him. “ _Ok. Go get ‘em, kid. I’ll be there the second you need me to be._ ”

Peter nodded, even though Tony couldn’t see him, and hung up the call, shoving the phone into the little pocket Tony had included in his suit.

Shooting a web at the building across the street from his, Peter pulled himself out to the street, stumbling a little when he stopped. Luckily, Glider Guy was still there.

“Hey, green!” He shouted, getting the guy’s attention. Was it even actually human? Peter couldn’t tell.

A sickening grin spread across its massive green face when it saw Spider-Man.

“What are you doing? Not that hovering in the street is wrong necessarily but it’s a little confusing, you know, and I’m just looking for some answers.” He stood in a ready position, his fingers waiting to press down on his webshooters the second he needed them too.

People had started to gather on the street corners and behind windows now and Peter could see a few cameras. They were probably on tv… maybe Tony was watching him.

The green figure still didn’t say anything and Peter wondered if it could.

He waved at it, making sure he still had its attention. “You know, I’m not judging your use of time or anything but… I think this might be just a little unsettling for bystanders, you know what I mean?”

“I have been looking for you, Spider-Man,” it rasped almost gleefully, bringing the glider down so it was just in front of where Peter stood and only raised a foot or two off the ground. “You weren’t too hard to find.”

“Looking for me?” He asked, putting one foot back a little, ready to move at a moment’s notice. “Why’s that?”

“You would like to know that, wouldn’t you, Spider-Man? But maybe I don’t want to tell you yet.” The grin grew even wider and Peter could see sharp, yellowed teeth.

Something about this felt so wrong. His spider sense was screaming at him, trying to tell him something. He wished not for the first time that his spider sense could use words…

He knew he was missing something.

The glider lurched forward, slamming into Spider-Man and sending him to the ground.

_Well, this’ll be fun…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so... we have our villain. ;D
> 
> Don't worry, this is a two chapter week so you only have to wait until Thursday!


	12. Chapter Twelve

Tony watched the screen intently as Spider-Man skidded back along the paved street, no doubt feeling it scrape painfully across his back. He stayed where he was for a second, catching his breath. A second later, he’d shot a web at the top of the building Tony knew he had been in with his friends just before.

Just as the glider came back around, clearly aiming to hit him again, Spider-Man used the web to pull himself up to safety. He stuck to the building with his fingertips and feet behind him, an ability which never ceased to amaze Tony when he thought about it.

The thing on the glider was looking around, trying to spot where Spider-Man had gone to. Tony figured Peter wasn’t going to move until he had to.

It didn’t take long before the glider was soaring up the Spider-Man’s location, the thing riding it wearing a vicious grin on its face.

Peter spun out of the way, catching the building with his fingertips again. This time he was sticking to it the other way and crawled away quickly.

“C’mon, kid,” Tony muttered, crossing his arms. He had the news feed blown up on a huge monitor and was standing right there, watching coverage from other channels on smaller screens at the same time. He wanted to be sure he didn’t miss a thing.

The green creature reached out and caught Peter’s ankle, pulling him back and making him lose his grip. Tony tensed, watching as Spider-Man kicked back, hitting the thing in the face and getting free, shooting out another web and swinging to the rooftop of a building across the street.

“Yes!”

Spider-Man was standing there, flinging his arms around like he was talking. The thing on the glider was looking increasingly annoyed so Tony figured that Peter was in fact running his mouth. He almost wished he could hear him… but that might just make his headache worse.

Peter started shooting webs at the goblin-like man. Tony recognized that kind of web. It had been one of Peter’s ideas. He was trying to get a good amount of web coverage before activating them and electrocuting the goblin. But just as fast as Spidey shot the webs, the thing’s claws tore them off, tossing them aside and trying to grab at Spider-Man.

“Just do it, Peter!” Tony shouted tensely. He wasn’t going to get anywhere if he just got stuck in this cycle.

The goblin caught Spider-Man’s lower right arm, blocking him from using that webshooter. He shot a web at his face with his left arm, setting off the electricity as soon as it hit. The shock wasn’t powerful enough to do much other than startle him but his grip loosened enough for Spider-Man to pull his arm free.

Tony wished Peter would call him. But he knew Spider-Man was capable. He wouldn’t fly in unless he was asked to or it really looked like Peter needed it.

The goblin lunged forward, trying to slash Spider-Man with his claws. But Spidey was too quick, flipping backwards and out of his reach. He landed with one leg out, crouching low to the ground, and kept shooting his webs, trying his hardest to subdue the thing.

Tony was glad they were keeping it mostly on the rooftop. It kept the people gathering on the street at least mostly out of harm’s way. But just as he thought that, the goblin got a hold on Peter and flung him over the side of the building, sending him back down to the street.

He landed on the top of a minivan and rolled off, landing on his back but kicking his feet forward and springing right back up again. The car was dented pretty badly but there wasn’t much anyone could do about it then. It wouldn’t be too hard to fix.

Again, just as the thought crossed Tony’s mind, the goblin jumped down after Peter, landing right on the very same car and crushing it, sending shattered glass flying out. He had left his glider on the rooftop.

It looked like Peter was talking again.

“No, just take him down! Shut up!” Tony groaned, putting his hands up on the back of his head. Peter always talked too much while he fought. Tony knew it was nerves more than anything. Well, that and just the excitement of wearing a mask and getting to be whoever he wanted. Peter Parker would never say the same kinds of things to bullies at school. Spider-Man could - and did - say whatever he wanted and he always got away with it.

Just as Peter had started fighting back again, Tony saw Peter fumbling for his phone. Tony pulled his Dad Phone out before it even rang and answered it as soon as it started.

“ _Tony! This thing -_ ”

“It’s big, I know,” Tony interrupted. “I’ve been watching everything on the news. Do you need me?”

“ _No, I just - ah!_ ” He jumped out of the way of a massive green fist flying at him. Tony wished he’d hurry up with the phone call. Fighting with one hand to his ear wasn’t helping anything and Tony wanted him to be as safe as he could be. “ _I need you to - I don’t know, hack Oscorp or something!_ ”

“Hack Osc - Peter, _webs_! Goblin’s right there!”

Peter shot the goblin man in the face again, jumping back towards the crushed car.

“ _Yes! This has something to do with them! Find whatever you can!_ ”

He hung up the phone then, not letting Tony ask any questions. He couldn’t really be mad since it did make things easier for Peter, who was apparently picking up the car.

“FRIDAY, we need to hack Oscorp now,” Tony announced, watching as Peter lifted the already mangled van over his head and threw it right at the goblin, hammering him into the sidewalk. Spider-Man and everyone watching stood still, waiting to see if he’d get back up. When he didn’t, Peter’s shoulders went slack and he let his head fall back.

Tony let out a relieved breath and turned his attention to doing what Peter had asked, still keeping an eye on the screen just in case something changed.

-

Peter threw his fists in the air, grinning and closing his eyes under his mask. “We got him, everyone!”

He heard some of the people clapping, some of them laughing as well. He laughed too - sort of a crazed breathy laugh - and sat down on the curb. If he was being completely honest, Peter had kind of thought he was going to lose for a little bit there. He felt a little too well matched in things like speed and strength and it had sort of terrified him.

He’d almost told Tony how scared he was on the phone but it had hardly seemed relevant. It only would’ve made Tony think he needed him to come help and he didn’t because it wasn’t _that_ bad so -

“ _Spidey_!”

Peter’s head swerved to the side, looking at the crowd still standing on the corner. Everyone was shouting at him and pointing and he hadn’t even noticed. In fact, he could hardly hear them now…

“What?” He breathed, turning slowly around to see the car back on the street, now upside down. There was a section of smashed concrete where the Goblin - what? It was a good name! - should’ve been. Peter’s face fell at the sight.

He stood up and turned back to the people.

“Where did he go?”

He was answered with some fingers pointing up to the rooftop they’d fought on and some shouts of “he got away” and “are you gonna stop him again?”

When he shot a web to pull himself up, the glider was gone. Apparently, the Goblin had gotten back to the glider and flown away entirely. He wasn’t going to be able to catch him then. The best thing to do would be to go back to the tower and see what Tony was finding out.

He went and fumbled around with his clothes, shoving his suit back into his backpack and hurrying into the side door of the pizza place again. Ned and Mary Jane were still in the booth, talking animatedly. Actually, so was everyone in the building. They must’ve been watching out the window…

Stumbling a little when he got to the table, he fell into his seat and slid down a little, resting his head heavily against the back of the booth.

“Hey, guys…” he sighed. “Wow, that was something, huh? I was just… in the, um,” he waved a hand by his head a little. “The alley. On the phone. Saw, uh - saw everything though.”

The two of them just stared at him. Ned looked half scared and half excited but that was normal. Mary Jane looked a little suspicious and a little concerned. Half of that was normal… Her eyes were narrowed at him as usual but she was frowning worriedly.

“Peter, you’re _really_ out of breath,” Ned murmured, his eyebrows furrowing. “Drink some water, ok?”

“Ned,” Peter tried to laugh him off but started coughing. He frowned awkwardly and leaned forward to pick up a glass of water. He’d only intended to drink a little but downed almost the entire glass at once.

Mary Jane glanced around quickly and then gestured at Peter to get his attention. “You hit your head pretty hard. Are you ok?”

Peter froze. What was she talking about? She couldn’t have meant… He looked over at Ned whose eyes widened as he shook his head.

“Peter?”

He looked back at Mary Jane again. She looked even more worried. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. “What? No. No, I’m fine. What’re you talking about?” The pizza was on the table by then so he grabbed a piece and started wolfing it down, not wanting to talk to her anymore.

“I’m not _stupid_ , Peter,” Mary Jane hissed. “Seriously, is your head ok?”

“Mary Jane, I don’t think you’re stupid,” he told her seriously, putting the pizza down directly on the table since he didn’t have a plate. “I don’t.”

“Well, what _did_ you think?” She demanded to know at the same time that Peter decided to ask a question of his own.

“How did you figure it out?” Peter asked, deciding that it was pointless to continue pretending he didn’t know what she was talking about.

Ned groaned and put his face down on the table.

Mary Jane breathed a laugh and raised her eyebrows at Peter, both of them ignoring their friend. “ _How did_ \- I put two and two together, what do you think? I used my _head_ , Peter.”

“But -”

“And speaking of,” She interrupted him firmly. “ _How’s yours_?”

Peter sighed, looking down. This had _not_ been how he was planning for the day to go. And he should’ve been back to the tower already. “Ok. You got me. Alright?” He looked back up at her again, smiling a little. “But you’ve got to admit I kept it from you for an impressive amount of time though, right?”

Mary Jane shook her head and looked like was trying to keep from smiling back at him. She didn’t answer him though.

“I have to go…” Peter sighed. “And I guess I can just tell you why now, huh?”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to,” Mary Jane shrugged.

Peter nodded, standing up and grabbing his backpack. “I’ll call you - both of you,” he looked over at Ned, who had taken his head off the table by then. “I promise I’ll explain everything but I have to go.”

They both nodded understandingly. Peter gave them an appreciative smile and left, not wasting any time getting his suit back on and heading back to the tower. He wasn’t sure how to feel. A part of him was saying it didn’t matter just then and he shouldn’t focus on it but… he couldn’t help it.

He was relieved that he - and subsequently Ned - could stop lying to Mary Jane now. And he wasn’t _really_ surprised that she’d figured it out since she’d clearly been getting closer and she was right; she wasn’t stupid. Of course she’d find out and he’d always known that but had put off worrying about it for too long. He almost wished he’d just told her.

But the part telling him not to worry about it won over. There was a goblin person loose and, to be completely honest, Mary Jane had been right. His head _did_ hurt.

He had to get back to the tower.

-

“Tony!” Peter called out as soon as he got in the tower, tearing off his mask and tossing it aside.

“Right here!” Tony shouted, practically jumping through a doorway. “Come on, I’ve got some stuff.” Almost immediately after appearing, he was gone again and Peter was hurrying to keep up with him.

“Tony, the Goblin just _vanished_!” Peter told him, sounding offended as he followed Tony to his workshop. “One second he’s under the car, the next he’s gone. I couldn’t get him after that ‘cause I didn’t know where he went. And we might want to pay for that car, by the way. I fell on it first. And then I threw it.”

“I saw,” Tony responded, stopping suddenly and turning around to face Peter who stumbled into him a little bit. “Hey, are you ok? Not hurt, right?”

Peter shook his head. “No, I’m ok. Just a little headache. Should we keep going?”

“Are you sure?” Tony asked firmly, grasping Peter’s upper arms tightly. “I need you to be honest with me.”

Peter gave a slightly baffled smile. “Tony, I’m seriously -”

Suddenly, Tony wrapped his arms all the way around Peter and pulled him into a tight hug. “You scared me so much. Are you _positive_ you’re not hurt?”

“I’m ok…” His voice was muffled against Tony’s shoulder.

“Really?” Tony pulled away, holding Peter at arms length. “FRIDAY, do a scan.”

“ _Tony_!” Peter laughed a little. “Are _you_ ok? I didn’t even get that hurt!”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “ _That_ hurt? So you are hurt?”

Peter pulled out of Tony’s grip and moved past him, heading to the workshop on his own and hoping Tony would just follow him. He did, of course.

“Not that badly,” Peter assured him. “So, I’m thinking maybe it would be smart to call the Avengers. They’ve been keeping tabs on the Goblin longer than I have so they might know something I don’t and now that he’s loose and we know he’s hostile -”

“Peter, ‘not that badly’? What does that mean?” Tony demanded to know as they finally entered the workshop. He was trying to look Peter over to see if he could spot any glaring problems but Peter wouldn’t stand still. It was getting annoying.

“So, can we call them?” Peter asked him, raising his eyebrows.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Yeah, ok. It’s a good idea. But you have to let me make sure you’re ok. FRIDAY, full body scan of Peter right now, please!”

“I heal fast, Tony, so it’s not -”

“Shut up and let FRIDAY do her thing,” Tony told him, turning to one of his monitors where he knew FRIDAY would display her findings. It wasn’t too horrible. He didn’t have a concussion but Tony wasn’t surprised that Peter’s head hurt. Most of it was fine and would probably heal up in a few hours but he’d scraped up the back of his shoulder pretty badly. Probably either when he fell on the car or when the Goblin first rammed him. “Get the top of your suit off.”

Peter nodded and complied, wincing a little as the material rubbed against his raw shoulder. He hadn’t really realized that he’d hurt it at all.

Tony sighed when he saw it. “You’re bleeding. Why do you not tell me these things?”

Peter frowned, trying to twist around enough to get a good look at it. “How much is it bleeding? I didn’t -”

“It’s going down your back!” Tony exclaimed, shoving Peter gently into a chair so the back as at Peter’s front. “Let me clean it up first…”

“Oh, hey!” Peter exclaimed, spinning the chair around so he could see Tony while he gathered some medical supplies. “Did you hack Oscorp?”

“Uh, yes,” Tony replied, grabbing the arm of the chair and spinning it back around so he could get at Peter’s back. “But I didn’t get much because I wasn’t sure what I should be looking for.”

“That’s… yeah, that’s a good point,” Peter nodded his head briefly to the right. He flinched a little when Tony put a wet hand towel on his bare skin, trying to clean off the blood. “Tony, that is so cold!”

“Sorry! Hold on…” He went back to the sink and soaked the towel in warm water instead. “How’s that?”

“I mean, it’s _better_. Thanks,” Peter sighed, crossing his arms on the top of the chair’s back and resting his chin on them. “Anyway, the Goblin just mentioned something about Osborn and… well, Osborn said something at the museum.”

Tony frowned, getting out the disinfectant after getting most of the blood cleaned up. “Said something like what?”

Peter shrugged. “I don’t… remember exactly,” he muttered, crossing his arms tighter so his left arm could hardly be seen. “But he said something about his research, like, in reference to _me_.”

“This might sting a little, ok?” Tony cut in, though he was still listening. He wasn’t surprised when the disinfectant made Peter tense up, inhaling sharply through his teeth. “So you think it’s connected is what you’re telling me?”

Peter just nodded.

It was certainly worth looking into and wasn’t that surprising either. Though it did make Tony want to hit something. He was in need of a reminder as to why he couldn’t just kill Osborn and end all connected problems…

-

Tony and Peter sat waiting in the living room, both of them trying to find anything they could in the many files Tony had made FRIDAY steal from the databases he’s hacked into. They had called the Avengers while Tony finished patching Peter up. Steve had said he’d be there as fast as he could with whoever wanted to come and thought they could probably help.

Tony was betting it would mostly just be whoever agreed with Steve about Peter. He probably didn’t want to go into Tony’s home without backup. Tony couldn’t blame him, though he was certainly planning to avoid all sore subjects this time around.

As soon as they got there, Peter started showering them with Goblin related questions. Steve had ended up bringing Bruce, Bucky, Clint, Natasha, and Rhodey, which Tony had grumbled about to Peter since it meant he’d been wrong.

“Peter, slow down a little,” Steve interjected, putting a hand up. Tony rolled his eyes and went to get a drink. “We can’t really help you if you don’t stop talking at all.”

Peter nodded apologetically.

“We don’t even know that much,” Steve continued, hands casually resting on his hips. “But maybe we can help you find him. You said there was news coverage, correct?”

“We already thought about that, Steve,” Tony rolled his eyes, leaning down to get something from his mini fridge. “He disappeared completely after a couple blocks and no one’s spotted him yet.”

Steve glared slightly at Tony, frowning disapprovingly. “You know what, Tony, I’m just trying to help. You’re the one who called me, remember?”

“Not you specifically,” Tony shrugged, straightening back up with a bottle in his hand. “I just called the compound. Anyone could’ve answered.”

“Hey, we’re trying to find a super villain, remember?” Peter interjected, waving at them a little. “Can this just wait, please?”

“Peter,” Rhodey said before anyone responded. He stepped closer to the teenager, furrowing his eyebrows. “What’s that?” He was pointing at the part of the bandage Tony had put on his that was showing at the neck of his school sweatshirt.

“Oh… it’s just a little -”

“When did you get hurt?” Steve questioned, narrowing his eyes at Tony while he waited for an answer.

“He’s fine!” Tony exclaimed, his tone dripping with annoyance.

Peter sighed and rolled his eyes a little. “It was today when I was fighting the Goblin but it’s ok now so can we -”

“Tony, I thought you were supposed to be looking out for him,” Steve cut in accusingly. Tony was positively glowering at him. “And then what? He goes out and gets injured because you’re not even trying to make sure he’s trained?”

Clint moved closer to Steve. “Hey… it’s ok. He’s bandaged so they took care of it already.”

Steve turned on Clint, looking determined. “It’s not about that. It’s about the fact that it happened at all.”

“We all get hurt sometimes,” Rhodey commented, taking Peter’s arm and tugging him over to him. “Do you mind if I take a look?”

Peter shook his head and let Rhodey lift up the back of his shirt.

“It’s really not that bad,” Rhodey noted, shrugging a little and letting Peter pull his shirt back down.

“Yeah, and it still doesn’t matter!” Steve insisted. “He shouldn’t even be getting hurt! I don’t care if we all do, he’s a kid in tights who should have had proper training before ever being allowed to -”

“Fine, well I didn’t!” Peter interrupted him. “No one trained me, I’m doing this anyway, and I got a little scuffed. But what’s done is done so can we get back to the Goblin now, please?”

“Exactly!” Tony threw a hand up in the air and rolled his eyes a little dramatically. “And it’s not even any of your business, Steve!”

“No, but it should be,” Steve bit back.

“Steve…” Bucky murmured warningly. He glanced over at Peter who furrowed his eyebrows.

“And you know what?” Steve went on, ignoring Bucky. “I think it’s time I made it my business.”

Tony straightened defensively, narrowing his eyes at the Captain. “What is _that_ supposed to mean?”

Natasha spoke up then, keeping her expression neutral. “Tony, we’ve been talking and we don’t all think you should legally be allowed to have Peter here with you. We’re hoping we can get you to understand where we’re coming from and work with us but if not, we’re prepared to -”

“You can’t do anything,” Tony argued, his features hardening. He gestured at Peter. “I’m going to adopt him. It’s just down to the paperwork now.” Which was a slight exaggeration.

“You can’t,” Steve stated almost smugly.

Tony scoffed. “You’re not a judge, Rogers.”

“No, but I’m pretty sure any judge would care about your drinking problem,” Steve shrugged, looking at the bottle in Tony’s hand. “Look what you’re doing right now as we speak. Yeah, good luck getting custody of a minor, Tony.”

“Hey, that’s not -” Peter tried to interrupt before Tony put a hand up to silence him.

Tony wasn’t looking at Peter. He continued to stare into Steve’s eyes, his expression unreadable. “Really? That’s still your argument?” Then he shrugged nonchalantly and tossed the bottle aside, not looking at it or even flinching as it shattered on the floor.

Everyone else stared at the glass and alcohol on the ground, undeniably shocked. Peter looked up first, making eye contact with Tony who waved him over.

“Peter, help me out here, ok?” He opened his fridge and started talking out all the bottles, setting them on the counter. When the teenager didn’t move, he nodded at Peter to help him.

“You’re not seriously going to throw this all on the floor, are you?” Peter muttered, setting an armload on the counter. Tony just looked at him briefly and kept going, gathering every bottle in the large room.

“FRIDAY, get Happy on the phone.”

“Right away, boss,” the AI said, dialing Happy’s number.

Steve and the others stood where they were, staring completely dumbfounded at Tony and even a little bit at Peter.

“What’s going on?” Happy asked when he answered, the call playing on speaker.

“Happy, get a few guys and start rounding up the alcohol in the building,” Tony ordered without greeting.

“Um…” Happy hesitated. “Ok? All of it? Like yours too or just anything employees have?”

Tony stopped for a second, thinking. “Well, I kind of just meant mine but yeah, everything.”

“Tony… what are you doing?” Rhodey asked, crossing his arms and cocking his head to the side.

“FRIDAY, end call. I’m removing the problem,” his friend told him. He didn’t have very much left in that room. He’d completely cleared out the dry bar in the corner and had nearly finished with the kitchen. He spent most of his time there and in his workshop so his collection had accumulated.

“I think that’s everything…” Peter said, looking around the room and trying to think where else it would be. “What are you going to do with it?”

Tony stood and looked at the bottles all sitting together. He’d had more in just the one room than he would’ve guessed. The thought didn’t make him proud. But there was only one way to fix that problem.

“Peter,” he said sharply, turning to face the teenager. “Give me a hand.”

“Wait, now what?”

“We’re taking it outside,” Tony told him, already taking a few bottles out the door with him.

“Tony!” Steve shouted, following him outside. “What are you trying to do?”

Popping a bottle open, Tony went right to the edge of the deck and tipped the bottle on its side, watching as the liquid poured out. “Well, Steve… I’m getting rid of all of this.”

“Are you trying to prove something?” Steve asked disbelievingly. And that really ticked Tony off.

“Yeah, I am,” Tony snapped, looking him in the eye. “I’m trying to prove that I’m going to fight you on this until I win.”

Peter showed up behind them with five bottles in his arms. “Uh, here…” He was staring intently as Tony emptied a second bottle. “Are you really going to do that with all of it?”

“Yeah, of course. Just set ‘em down, thanks.”

Peter nodded. “I’ll go get more. Clint and Rhodey are gonna help,” he said, turning to go back inside.

Steve turned his head to look in through the glass. Sure enough, the two of them were gathering bottles off the counter with Peter. Bruce and Natasha were sitting on the couch, Bruce looking uncomfortable and Natasha flipping through a magazine with a picture of Tony punching Osborn on the front. He couldn’t see where Bucky was.

“This doesn’t make a difference,” he said, turning back to Tony again. Clint had just come out with some bottles. “Whatever you throw out now, you can just replace later.”

“Yeah, but I won’t,” Tony argued emphatically. He shook the bottle he was currently holding, trying to get it out faster. It had been one thing just finding all of it but now that he was actually getting rid of it while trying to ignore Steve’s discouraging attitude. He hadn’t expected it to be so hard.

Peter and Rhodey came out with the rest of the bottles and set them all down together. “Happy called again,” Peter said quietly, like he wasn’t sure if he should talk or not. “He said he and Bucky didn’t know what to do with everything.”

“Bucky?” Steve repeated, sounding surprised.

“Yeah, he said he wanted to help,” Peter explained, still just watching Tony who smiled a little to himself. Peter tried to hold back a smile of his own. Neither of them could help feeling just a little smug at the fact that Bucky was helping them. “You can too if you want, Steve.”

Tony snorted a little and started on another bottle. He looked over his shoulder at Peter. “Call ‘em back up and tell them to just get rid of it.”

“Uh… sure,” Peter nodded hesitantly, going back inside the building.

Tony sighed and kept going, wishing everyone would quit staring at him. His head was starting to hurt.

“You know you have to do more than just throw it away, right?” Steve asked, his arms crossed.

Tony gave him a dry look and rolled his eyes. “Why, yes, Steve. I _do_ know that. But thank you anyway.”

No one seemed to have anything to say after that. Steve looked like he wanted to keep arguing but couldn’t think of any words to use against Tony. Or maybe it was just that he was so taken aback by the lack of support he was receiving at the moment. Clint and Rhodey had both made their feelings perfectly clear and Bruce and Natasha had apparently decided to stay out of it.

And then there was Bucky. Even Bucky was seemingly in support of Tony and not his own best friend. Though they’d disagreed before so Steve supposed it wasn’t impossible to imagine. But siding with Tony?

Steve shook his head and stepped a few feet away, still partially watching but keeping to himself. Tony seemed less tense with the new space between them. But his jaw was still set and his eyes were still kept down.

This wasn’t easy for him.

Peter walked back outside after a few minutes. He went straight to Tony, standing where Steve have had been before.

“Wow,” he said, almost under his breath. “You’re making progress. That’s -” he looked down at the still full bottles. “Wow, that’s about half of ‘em left, huh?”

Tony nodded mutely, though he didn’t look. Maybe he’d been keeping count. “You want to help some more?”

Peter nodded a little, watching Tony.

“You can start opening them so I can go faster, if you want,” Tony told him, looking up and giving him a brief and unconvincing smile. He wondered what Peter was thinking...

“Tony,” Peter looked over his shoulder, trying to make sure no one was listening too closely. “You don’t have to do this. We can always find another -”

“No,” Tony interrupted, staring hard at Peter. He was fairly certain Peter didn’t really want him not to do it. Maybe he was just trying to gauge how serious Tony really was about it. “I _want_ to do it. Now, are you going to help or not?”

Nodding again, Peter sat on the ground, crossing his legs. He got to work opening each bottle, moving them to his other side as he went. Every now and then, he’d look up Tony. He felt like the man was watching him but he wasn’t sure. Each time he looked up at him, Tony would either look away or he’d just raise an eyebrow at Peter.

Tony sighed as he reached down for another bottle. He had about six left after that one. It crossed his mind that some people _might_ have a problem with alcohol raining down onto the street. He’d almost certainly have to get the windows cleaned.

As he poured the bottle out, he wondered if it would really be so bad to keep a little. He didn’t even really get himself drunk anymore. Well, at least not regularly. There was a decent chance Steve was blowing it out of proportion… and maybe if he just tried to control it for a while he could quit in a while. But…

He looked down at Peter again. Peter who he wanted to adopt. Peter who was helping him. Peter who needed him.

No. It would be better for Peter if he just stopped.

He turned his attention back to disposing of his drinks, sighing again as he shook out the remnants of the bottle’s contents. Peter reached up to take it from him and hand him the next one.

Somehow these last few seemed to take longer than the rest had.

Peter was right there to hand him the next bottle each time Tony thought about waiting, even for a moment, to finish the job. And at the last one, after Tony held it with slightly shaking hands for a moment, he finally decided he couldn’t do it. Looking back at Peter after a failed attempt to get his hand to tip the bottle over, he held the bottle back down.

“What?” Peter asked, looking up at Tony, confused.

“I need you to help me a little more,” Tony told him plainly, his voice low. Peter furrowed his eyebrows and stood up, reaching out to take the bottle from Tony.

“Do you… want me to…” He glanced to the side, just barely looking down over the edge. When he looked back again, Tony nodded.

Peter frowned thoughtfully and then nodded back, holding the bottle out and tipping it straight upside down.

Tony watched as the liquid fell.

The doubt was gone, disappearing with the last of his liquor. There was no more room for that in his life. Starting then, everything was for Peter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. So Mary Jane is not stupid. ;D But we knew that, didn't we?
> 
> Steve... *sigh* oh, Steve. At this point, he genuinely doesn't believe Tony is going to stick with this. He believes that he means it at the moment but thinks he'll just turn right back around after a while, you know? He's wrong, of course, but thats what he thinks.
> 
> Well, next chapter is on Monday! I'm gonna go help the window cleaners get rid of all that alcohol. ;D Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!


	13. Chapter Thirteen

“We’ll just keep looking,” Tony had said before he and Peter went to their rooms for the night.

The Avengers had left somewhat awkwardly after Tony had made sure every drop of alcohol had left the building. Some of it went off the side and the rest was simply loaded up and driven away.

Even as they left, Steve looked like he wanted to say something but just couldn’t. It was hard to be sure if it was because he felt bad or was just having trouble coming up with the words to express what he was thinking.

Bucky had promised Peter that they would get back to them about Goblin and had also said he preferred the new name to “Glider Guy”. Peter had smiled a little at that. He wasn’t sure he agreed though. Glider Guy had at least sounded a little more friendly. It was hard to imagine someone called Goblin as anything other than creepy.

But maybe that was because Peter had fought him.

Peter wanted to stay up and keep looking for information about the Goblin but Tony insisted that sleep was more important at the moment. To satisfy Peter until morning however, he told FRIDAY to wake them both up if there were any reports that might relate even a little bit to the Goblin.

That had helped a little but still… Peter wasn’t sure he’d get much sleep that night.

So, after tossing and turning for a couple hours, he gave up completely.

There was a part of Peter telling him to put his suit back on and go out for a while since he wasn’t sleeping anyway. But he knew how Tony would feel about that and the last thing he wanted to do just then was upset Tony.

So he did the next thing he thought of instead. And that was text his two friends.

**Hey, guys. Are you still up? Video call?**

Ned was the first one to respond and his reply came almost immediately after Peter sent his initial text.

**I am. Don’t know about Mary Jane. Just call and it’ll wake her up if she’s still sleeping.**

Well, that struck Peter as a little mean. But he really wanted to talk to them… and she’d done that sort of thing to him before so…

He shrugged and logged onto his laptop, calling them both and leaning back in his chair while he waited.

Again, Ned was there just about instantaneously. A little surprisingly, Mary Jane’s face appeared before either of the boys could even say hello.

“ _You’d better be calling for a good reason_ ,” Mary Jane told Peter, her voice a little hushed. She was putting her headphones on and plugging them in. Her light was out, leaving her face illuminated entirely by her laptop. She was also glancing at the door so Peter figured she was supposed to be in bed already.

“I am,” Peter assured her and then shrugged a little. “Well, mostly.”

“ _Why are you calling?_ ” She asked impatiently, frowning a little when she had to poke the messy bun on top of her head out of the way so her headphones could sit straight.

Ned spoke up then. “ _Is it about secret things?_ ”

This seemed to intrigue Mary Jane, who nearly smirked as she leaned a little closer to the screen.

Peter bit his lip, considering his answer. He wanted to talk to them about what had happened and figured he owed Mary Jane some explanations but… where was he supposed to start exactly? How much had she already figured out for herself? And maybe now that she knew Ned had just told her stuff after Peter left. He didn’t know. “Um… kind of. I can’t sleep and I just… I need to talk some stuff through with someone.”

_“Wait a second_ ,” Mary Jane cut in, squinting at the screen. “ _Where are you?_ ”

“My… room?”

Ned’s face lit up. “ _Oh, is that your bedroom at the tower?_ ”

Oh, right. Neither of them had been there.

“ _Hold on_ ,” Mary Jane held up a hand, cutting in again. “ _You’re there often enough to have a bedroom?_ ”

Peter winced a little. _Ok, so that was one thing she hadn’t figured out yet_. “Well, yeah, I - I kind of…” He sighed, questioning his decision to call in the first place. “I’ve sort of lived with Tony for… a few months now.”

_“Tony as in Tony Stark? Why?_ ” Mary Jane asked suspiciously.

“ _His aunt kicked him out_ ,” Ned supplied, nodding solemnly.

“Oh thanks, Ned!” Peter exclaimed. “Geez.”

“ _I’m sorry!_ ” Ned winced, shrinking a little in his chair.

Peter closed his eyes momentarily, putting his hands up over half his face and sighing slowly.

Mary Jane was staring again; trying to get into his head through the computer, apparently. “ _Peter_ …” she breathed, waiting for him to look back at the screen. “ _Are you ok?_ ”

Peter paused briefly. Was he?

Now both of his friends were watching him intently, frowning but not saying anything.

“Uh…” Peter cocked his head to the side. “Y-yeah, I think so. I _wasn’t_ but I… I am now, yeah.”

Mary Jane nodded slowly, resting her chin on her fist with her elbow propped up on the desk in front of her. “ _Ok… so what do you need to talk about? Because I’m guessing it’s not that. But we might need to go back to it at some point._ ”

“ _Oh yeah, I’m sorry! We sort of got off track, didn’t we_?” Ned asked, lifting his laptop and walking over to his bed instead. “ _Did something happen_?”

Peter shrugged, glad for the change of subject. “I mean, sort of. I don’t know. We’re trying to figure out what the deal is with this Goblin guy but then Steve is still being a problem. And I think Tony and I are going to try to make this, like, permanent? But what if it doesn’t work out? And I’m still worrying about the Goblin but Tony said to just go to bed. And maybe it’s not as big as I feel like it is so -”

“Hey!”

The door to Peter’s room flew open and Tony stuck his head in, his hair disheveled. Peter flinched a little and offered a small wave, his eyes wide.

“ _What happened?_ ” Ned asked from the computer.

Tony stared at Peter, completely deadpan. “Really, Peter? Really?”

“ _Oh hey, Mr. Stark!_ ” Said Ned brightly, even though he couldn’t see Tony.

“Yeah, hi,” Tony responded, not bothering to move from the doorway. “Peter, go to bed.”

“Well, but -”

“ _Bed_ , Peter.”

Mary Jane snickered, earning a glare from Peter.

“Why are you even up?” Tony sighed, leaning his head against the doorframe.

Peter shrugged sheepishly. “I just… everything’s crazy and I just wanted to talk to my friends about it.”

“‘Friends’?” Tony repeated, straighten up slightly, his eyebrows raised bemusedly. “Who else?” He leaned forward to get a look at the laptop and grinned when he saw Ned and Mary Jane, one on either side of the screen.

“Uh… yes,” Peter mumbled awkwardly, avoiding looking at anyone.

Tony moved so he was back against the doorframe again, still grinning tiredly. “Ok. Well, you need sleep. And so do they,” he raised his voice a little at that. Peter glanced back at the screen, catching the embarrassed looks on their faces. “So it’s time to get off now. Your birthday’s in a couple days. We’ll all go out for dinner. Talk then; bed now. Besides, I want to get to know them.”

“I don’t know if they -”

“ _That sounds great_ ,” Ned insisted. Mary Jane nodded when Peter looked back at the screen again. He sighed a little.

“Ok, Peter,” Tony smiled fondly. “Bed time. Hang up.”

Peter smiled and rolled his eyes a little on. “Yeah, ok, _Dad_.” The second he said it, he froze. Only moving his eyes, he looked up at Tony. He’d frozen too. Peter hadn’t even thought before it came out and… now he was regretting it. “Um… I -”

Tony smiled easily and reached forward to ruffle Peter’s hair. “Get some sleep, kid. We’ll talk more tomorrow, ok?” He gave Peter another reassuring smile and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Peter cleared his throat awkwardly and faced the screen again, not actually looking at either of his friends. “So. My, uh… my birthday then, huh?”

“ _Can we meet at the tower?_ ” Ned asked eagerly.

Peter breathed a laugh, hoping and praying his face didn’t look as red as it was feeling. “Sure, Ned. How about a couple hours before dinner?”

Mary Jane smiled, her head cupping her cheek as she watched her friends on her computer screen. She looked like she was trying to get in Peter’s head again. “ _We can talk times more later. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be bed time._ ”

Peter could feel his cheeks heating up even more. He nodded and looked away again. “Uh… yeah. Yeah, it is. Thanks for talking though. Both of you.”

“ _Anytime, Peter,_ ” Ned answered, grinning at him charmingly.

Mary Jane just smiled knowingly. Both of them waited for Peter to hang up the call.

Resisting the urge to give a rush of defenses as far as what they’d heard him say, he clicked the end call button and turned off his laptop, flopping directly into his bed for the rest of the night.

-

Tony woke Peter up with a loud knock on his door the next morning. The sun was barely up and Peter wanted to cry a little. This was ridiculous.

“ _Tony_ , are you serious?” He shouted from his bed, tossing his pillow over his face.

The door opened then and Tony came into the room. “Uh, yes. Yes, I am, Peter. And you wouldn’t be this tired if you hadn’t stayed up last night.”

“I couldn’t sleep!” Peter protested as Tony tried to tug the pillow away. “Just let me stay here a little bit longer. Why are you even making me get up?”

“Because I made breakfast. Come on,” he finally succeeded in snatching away the pillow, which he tossed against the wall.

Peter glared up at him. “I can just eat it later.”

“It’ll be cold then.” He grabbed at the covers and ripped them off of Peter’s body, grabbing his wrist before he could curl back up. “Seriously, just come on.” He pulled Peter up into a sitting position.

“ _Fine_. Ok, I’m coming. You can stop pulling me,” Peter told him, shaking off his hand and standing up on his own. He shot a web at his pillow, yanking it back across the room and tossing it onto his bed.

“You sleep in those?” Tony chuckled. “Isn’t that uncomfortable?”

Peter shrugged, yawning. “Uh, not really. Kinda at first. I’m just used to it now. It feels weird to take them off.”

Tony nodded thoughtfully before turning and leaving the room. Peter’s face scrunched up in a mixture of leftover sleepiness and pure confusion.

Why was Tony even up making food this early?

When he came out to the kitchen he really had no idea how to respond. When Tony had said breakfast, he’d imagined toast and cereal, which was what they usually had. Sometimes scrambled eggs but they were always either cooked too long or not quite long enough so they kind of didn’t like to bother with it.

But no. None of that today.

Instead, Tony had five muffin tins out in various places in the kitchen. Every one of them was a complete mess with batter splattered all over the edges and either barely in the actual cups or overflowing. He’d already baked them and Peter would guess that only one tin looked somewhat safe to eat.

There was batter all over the counters and far too many spoons and spatulas sitting around. Who needed that many spatulas for one thing? There were a lot of bowls too. Had he been transferring his batter every few minutes or something?

“Tony… _what_?”

“I made breakfast!” Tony grinned. “Come over here and help me get these out.”

Peter sighed and walked around the counter to where Tony was. “Are you… having problems getting them out? What kind are they anyway?” He scrunched his nose up, leaning down to look at the lumpy muffins.

“I couldn’t decide between blueberry and chocolate chip so… both,” Tony answered, putting his hands on his hips.

“They look weird,” Peter straightened up. “Can I see the box?”

“Oh, there’s no box. I made them from scratch.”

“Really? Have you… done that before?”

Tony shook his head, frowning a little. “No. I just thought I’d try it. I needed a distraction.”

Peter nodded slowly and picked up the tin. “Tony… did you put the paper cups in here?”

Tony shook his head again. “No, I thought that was optional.”

Rolling his eyes tiredly, Peter set the tin back down again. “Why would that be optional?”

“Because… it’s just for style?”

Peter sighed and shook his head. He stared down at the lopsided muffins for a while and shrugged. “This is probably hopeless. Maybe you should just _not_ try this one again.”

Tony gasped in exaggerated offense. “Really, Peter? Really, after I tried to do something nice? Just for that, you get to clean the kitchen. And I’m going to make muffins every morning until you like them.”

“Oh my gosh,” Peter raised his eyebrows disbelievingly. “That’s not fair! You’re the one who made this mess, not me! I wanted to sleep!”

Tony shrugged, grinning widely. “Well, now you get to clean though.”

Peter rolled his eyes and Tony laughed, pulling out some kitchen towels. “We’ll do it together, come on.”

He tossed Peter a towel and stuck his under the faucet, figuring that would make it easier to clean.

“So,” Peter sighed, pushing his hair off of his forehead. “What are we doing today?”

“Probably nothing if you don’t stop yawning,” Tony responded, laughed at Peter who had a hand up over his mouth.

“It’s your fault,” Peter told him, starting to scrub the counter. “You’re the one who woke me up early.”

“And, _you’re_ the one who stayed up late to talk to your friends,” Tony said. “Who I _do_ want to meet, by the way.”

Peter sighed. “Mary Jane figured out that I’m Spider-Man. And now she kinda knows I live with you because Aunt May kicked me out.”

“Oh,” Tony nodded, his smile faltering a little. “Is that all she knows?”

“Yeah, for now. I’m going to explain everything though,” Peter shrugged, yawning again. “Hopefully it’ll make things easier since I’ve been lying to her for a whole year. Now I don’t have to anymore.”

Tony nodded again. “That makes sense. And I meant it when I said they we could do dinner with them. Just tell me when and where, ok?”

Peter hummed in response, going around to gather up the dirty dishes and take them to the sink. He pushed up his sleeves and turned on the water, grabbing a large sponge. He stopped for a second, staring down at his arm until he noticed Tony watching him. He cleared his throat awkwardly and turned his attention back to the dishes, trying to pretend he hadn’t noticed anything.

“I was thinking,” Tony began a little hesitantly. “There’s this press thing I was supposed to go to represent SI. It’s a little later today.”

Peter nodded thoughtfully, scrubbing at a sticky bowl. “Ok. That’s fine. When will you be back?”

“Oh. Well, I was thinking you might want to go with me,” Tony suggested. “I know last time was… not as enjoyable as we were hoping. But I can call first and make sure he’s not expected to be there. And this one isn’t very long. There aren’t nearly as many people so… I just thought we could pop in for a little bit and then go get some ice cream or something. If you wanted to.”

Peter nodded, yawning hard. “Yeah, ok. What time?”

“Well, I think it - Peter, are your eyes closed?” Tony laughed a little as Peter’s eyes snapped wide open.

“Nope.”

Tony rolled his eyes, still smiling. “Ok, ok. Go back to sleep. I’ll come get you later so we can go, ok?”

Not really feeling like putting up a fight and honestly just wanting sleep, Peter just nodded and dried off his hands. Rather than go back to his room, he flopped face down on the couch. He sighed at the softness of the cushions and buried his face into a throw pillow.

Tony shook his head with a smile as he watched him. It hardly took a full minute for Peter to fall asleep. He hadn’t bothered to push his sleeves back down and Tony had a clear view of the scars Osborn had left on his arm. Other than a couple faint lines here or there, everything else had disappeared. Peter healed fast and those kinds of things just didn’t stick around the way they would on someone else. But the damage done to his arm had been too extensive to ever really go away.

Sighing, Tony looked away, going about cleaning the kitchen on his own. So maybe he’d failed this time but… he’d just try again. And eventually Peter would like his muffins. That was his new goal.

Make muffins Peter likes.

-

Tony held Peter back for a minute when they got through the door, holding his shoulder firmly but not too hard. Just enough to make sure he had him.

“Hold on,” he murmured, looking intently around the room.

“What’s wrong?” Peter asked, tensing up a little. “What’s going on?”

Tony shook his head, doing another quick scan of the crowd before looking down at Peter. “Just making sure.”

Peter looked baffled only for a brief moment before understanding. “Oh. Right.”

“I think it’s ok,” Tony smiled a little. “What do you want to do?”

Peter shrugged. “I’m ok on my own if you have to go… mingle?” He smiled pleasantly.

“Really?” Tony asked skeptically. “We thought it be ok last time, remember? It kind of wasn’t, so forgive me if I’m not too excited to try that again.”

“Yeah, but you… you checked this time,” Peter shrugged again. “I’m really fine. I promise I’ll find you if I’m not.”

Tony could remember him saying something like that the last time. But he hadn’t really had the chance to come find Tony then, had he?

“Are you going to stay in one place or move around?” Tony questioned, getting another shrug in response. “Ok. Fine. Just… you know, be careful.”

This time, Peter nodded before walking away. Tony shook his head and left to talk to people he had no desire to talk to. Hopefully they could just leave after an hour or so. They were both feeling pretty ready to go and get some ice cream.

Peter wandered around for a while before finally settling back against a wall at the back corner of the room to watch people. Mostly just Tony, if he was being honest. Both of them were keeping an eye out in case the had to make a quick escape. They didn’t want to have to stop to find each other if anything happened.

“Hi there,” someone said to him, leaning against the wall next to Peter. He didn’t look too much older than Peter was. He was taller though with an angled face and charming smile. Although Peter could swear they’d never met, there was something unsettlingly familiar about him. “Are you ok? You look a little lonely over here on your own.”

“Um… no. No, I’m fine,” Peter answered, inching to the side a little. He wasn’t sure why he had a desire to get away but it didn’t feel like his spider sense.

“Ok then,” he nodded, smiling kindly. “Just checking. I’m Harry, by the way. And your name was…?”

Peter furrowed his eyebrows, biting his bottom lip a little. “Uh, I’m Peter. Peter Parker.”

Harry nodded with another friendly smile, holding out his hand for Peter to shake. “Osborn.”

_Oh._

Peter froze and Harry pulled his hand back, raising his eyebrows.

“It’s ok,” Harry assured him. “I get nervous at this stuff too. I’m usually the only teenager though so I was surprised when I saw you over here.”

Peter nodded slowly, the crease between his eyebrows deepening.

“I only just turned sixteen about seven months ago, actually,” Harry told him. “How old are you? Sorry, I’m pretty bad at guessing that kind of thing.”

Peter took a deep breath before answering. “I’ll be sixteen tomorrow.” He winced slightly after he’d spoken. Did he really want the Osborns knowing his exact age and birthday? Well, he’d already said it so there was no going back, was there?

Harry grinned, his eyebrows raised in surprise. “Is that right? Well, happy early birthday then!”

Peter tried to smile appreciatively but it was more of a wince.

“So… why are you here?” Harry asked conversationally. Peter was sure he could tell how uncomfortable he was. Either he was being a jerk or he thought he was helping somehow. “I’m here in place of my dad. Norman. He’s recovering so he couldn’t come. You might’ve heard about what happened. You see, he was -”

“I’m an… intern,” Peter blurted out, simply not wanting to talk about Norman. And he figured that if Tony’s story last time had been “he’s an intern” he should probably stick to that.

“Oh yeah? Who are you interning with?”

Peter hesitated. “Stark… Industries?”

“Wow! That’s pretty impressive at fifteen, huh? That’ll look good on your college applications, won’t it?” Harry commented, still smiling. He moved so that he was more in front of where Peter was standing than beside him.

Peter inched a little closer to the corner. “Probably.”

“Hey, so have you met Stark? I guess you probably have, huh?” Harry asked curiously, continuing without an answer. “I never have. I know he’s here but -” he looked over his shoulder, scanning the room. “Well, I figured he might not want to meet me. Which is too bad since I really admire him a lot. But… He wouldn’t want to see me. It might… I don’t know, set him off?”

“He’s a person,” Peter said quietly. “Not a _bomb_.”

“I didn’t - No, I just meant -” Harry sighed, and shrugged. “Well, he’s clearly got a problem with my dad and I didn’t want to cause anything, you know?”

Peter nodded a little. He was starting to feel less uncomfortable but… why was Harry even talking to him? The question had been nagging at him the whole time since Harry had approached him.

Initially, he’d assumed it had something to do with Norman but now? He actually seemed like a pretty nice guy and he didn’t seem to be trying to do anything or get something from Peter. So maybe he was ok. Peter was definitely leaning towards thinking maybe Harry was just trying to be friendly.

“Hey,” Tony snapped, appearing behind Harry without either of two teenagers even noticing him beforehand. Harry jumped a little, turning to face him.

“Oh. Mr. Stark!” Harry smiled nervously. “Peter and I were just talking about you. I’m, uh, I’m Harry.”

Tony looked down at Harry’s outstretched hand, one eyebrow raised. He looked back up without even moving to shake Harry’s hand. “I know who you are. What are you doing talking to Peter?”

When Tony looked at him, Peter shook his head slightly, trying to tell him not to start anything. Harry hadn’t really done anything and the last thing any of them needed was for Tony to break another Osborn’s jaw.

“Well, I saw him alone over here and I thought I’d introduce myself,” Harry explained, rubbing his palms on his jeans. “I don’t really fit in here myself and I thought… well, maybe he could use a friend.”

“What, and you just ignored how uncomfortable he was clearly feeling?” Tony demanded, his expression stern and his eyes ablaze.

Harry looked over at Peter, who had closed his eyes briefly. “Well, I - I figured he was just nervous. I was trying to be helpful. I’m sorry if I did something to offend you, Mr. Stark. I assure you it wasn’t my intention and -”

“It’s fine,” Peter interrupted, then looking Tony. “ _I’m_ fine.”

Tony didn’t look like he believed him. He gestured with his fingers at his side for Peter to move closer to him. It was subtle but Peter saw and complied, moving just slightly behind Tony’s arm.

Harry stepped back a little, his hands open and raised only a little. “Really, I’m sorry. I’m not… sure what I did exactly but I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, ok,” Tony nodded stiffly, his eyes narrowing a little.

Harry walked away then with a little smile and wave to Peter who sort of tried to smile back.

Tony watched Harry until he started talking to someone else. Even though he continued to glance over at Tony and Peter, he didn’t seem to be intending to come back over so Tony turned his attention back to Peter, who was just barely holding onto Tony’s arm.

“What did he say to you?” Tony asked, sighing and looking at the wall behind Peter. He knew he shouldn’t have agreed to split up again. And he certainly wouldn’t do it the next time.

Peter shook his head, which was faced down at his feet. “It’s ok. He didn’t do anything. He was just being friendly.”

“Then why are you hiding?” Tony asked softly, now looking down at the top of Peter’s head.

“I’m _not_ ,” Peter sighed, forcing himself to take a small step back from Tony. “I really don’t think he meant anything… he can’t help who he is. I was trying not to let it be a problem.”

“Is this you feeling guilty for ridiculous reasons again? Because, Peter -”

“ _No_ ,” Peter insisted, finally looking up. “It’s not. And he’s probably not going to come back. You can keep talking to people.”

Tony shook his head, frowning distastefully. “Nah, why bother? It’s boring anyway and we’ve been here long enough that it wouldn’t be completely rude to leave. Besides, I’m Tony Stark. Who’s going to stop me? Come on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we finally meet Harry! Gotta say, I love that kid. ;D


	14. Chapter Fourteen

“You are receiving a call from a Mrs. May Parker,” FRIDAY informed Tony just as he entered the kitchen in the morning. Well, that was unexpected.

“Ok? Answer it, I guess,” Tony shrugged, going to get some coffee. “But first, is Peter up yet?”

“No, boss,” FRIDAY answered him. “He got out of bed to take a shower an hour ago and then went back to sleep.”

Tony smiled, figuring he’d just let him sleep for a while if he wanted to. It was _his_ birthday, after all, and if he wanted to sleep in he could. “All right, go ahead and answer the call.”

“ _Tony? I didn’t think you were going to answer_ ,” May said the second FRIDAY put the call through.

“Why?” Tony scoffed. “I’m the one who wanted to talk, remember?”

May sighed. “ _I know._ ”

There was a pause before she spoke again.

“ _It’s Peter’s birthday_.”

“Yeah, I know that,” Tony informed her brightly, rolling his eyes. “Do you want to talk to him or something? Because you can’t right now. He’s sleeping in.”

She sighed again. “ _No, I don’t want to talk to him…_ ”

Oh, what a surprise.

Tony frowned, feeling more annoyed than he liked to first thing in the morning. “Then what do you want? Just cut to the chase here because I have things to do and a kid’s birthday to celebrate. _You_ might have a clear schedule today but -”

“ _I’ve been thinking about it_ ,” she interrupted, her words fast and squished together like she was trying to just get it out before she changed her mind. “ _Like I said I would_.”

“And?” Tony prodded impatiently, talking a large drink from his mug.

“ _I read about some stuff you did this week. Like breaking Norman Osborn’s jaw. Peter was there, wasn’t he?_ ” May asked. Tony couldn’t tell how she felt about it. “ _I thought I could see him a little in one of the pictures._ ”

“Yeah, he was there,” Tony told her, his tone guarded. “What about it?”

“ _Well, he wasn’t_ just _there, right? It was about him, wasn’t it?_ ”

Tony set his mug down to pour some more coffee, wanting his mug to be full when he went to sit at the couch. “Yeah it was. Now get to your point. I’m not feeling very patient right now.”

“ _Ok_ ,” she sighed again. “ _Look, can we just… can we meet somewhere next week? Like, get coffee or something? I’m… well, I want to hear what you’re thinking again._ ”

“Is this you saying yes?” Tony asked, freezing in the middle of the room on his way to the couch. “Tentatively?”

“ _I guess it is…_ ” she said and Tony resisted the urge to throw a fist triumphantly into the air. “ _I’m just scared. Can’t you understand that? I know you don’t think I do, but I love Peter. I don’t want him to hate me._ ”

“May, leaving him here and refusing to let go isn’t going to help you with that,” Tony reasoned. “I don’t think he hates you but you haven’t been doing yourself any favors in that department either.”

“ _I know_ ,” she muttered. “ _That’s why I’m trying to be ok with this_.”

Tony didn’t say anything else. He just stood there, waiting for her to speak again.

“ _I’ll go now. Can you let me know when it works for you to meet? I’ll make it work for me too,_ ” May told him. She paused again. “ _If you mention to Peter that we spoke… tell him happy birthday?_ ”

“I will, May,” Tony smiled briefly as the call ended.

-

“Hey, Tony,” Peter said groggily, rubbing his eyes as he came into the kitchen after he decided to get up.

“Sleep well?” Tony asked from his place on the couch.

Peter nodded, shoving his messy hair out of his face and coming over to sit by Tony. “Yeah, mostly. I’m just really tired.” He pulled his legs up and leaned his head on Tony’s shoulder.

“I didn’t make breakfast yet,” Tony told him, still sipping coffee. “I was going to make muffins but I didn’t want to wake you up since it’s your birthday. Happy birthday, by the way.”

Peter mumbled some kind of thanks, letting his eyes close again.

Tony smiled down at him. “Now that you’re up, why don’t we get some food? What kind of muffins should I try and make?”

Peter sighed. “Can you maybe not? That didn’t go so well yesterday.”

“I wasn’t planning on a repeat of yesterday morning, Peter,” Tony nudged him in the side, making him lift his head a little and stare reproachfully at Tony. “I was thinking I’d make them right this time. If at first you don’t succeed...”

“Tony, can we please just get cinnamon rolls?” Peter pouted, hugging his sweatshirt tighter around his torso.

Tony rolled his eyes and stood up, ruffling Peter’s hair as he moved in front of him to go back to the kitchen. “Oh fine. Go get your shoes on and we’ll get you your cinnamon rolls.”

“Really?” Peter asked, perking up a little bit.

“Yeah, it’s your birthday,” Tony shrugged, although he probably would’ve said yes anyway. _Those stupid puppy eyes_. “Be back in this room in no more than ten minutes and we’ll leave. Should we see if Happy wants to go?”

“Sure, you call him,” Peter grinned, pushing up off the couch. “I have to go get some clothes on.”

Tony nodded and Peter hurried back to his room. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to just wear his sweatshirt, which was absurdly comfortable, so he only had to put on jeans and shoes. Then he just had to fix his hair since he’d slept on it right after showering and it was complete disaster.

He got ready as fast as he could, having realized since thinking about food that he was actually extremely hungry. Cinnamon rolls sounded like heaven and he was more than ready to go get some.

It turned out Happy didn’t feel like he could go at the moment but, in his own words, certainly wouldn’t mind if someone felt like bringing him some cinnamon rolls when they came back to the tower.

“So… if we’re gonna bring Happy some can we buy extra for us to have later too?” Peter asked, buckling his seatbelt as Tony pulled the car out onto the street.

“Yes,” Tony agreed, drawing the word out. “But you don’t get to have them for breakfast tomorrow. Because I’m making muffins.”

Peter laughed but nodded in agreement.

Tony reached forward to turn on some music, going straight to his favorite rock station. The music blasted out of the speakers at almost full volume, making Peter cringe, his hands flying up to cover his ears.

“Tony, _why_?” he cried, his eyes widening.

Tony grinned and turned it down just loud enough to be identifiable. “Sorry, I forgot I’d turned it up. I haven’t driven this one in a couple weeks.”

Peter lowered his hands slowly as if he didn’t quite believe Tony wasn’t going to turn it back up. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Letting out a shaky breath, he relaxed in his seat again. “Can we listen to something else?”

“No, I’m driving,” Tony answered automatically. “You can pick the music when you learn how to drive.”

“Just today?” Peter tried. “Please, it’s my birthday!”

Tony sighed dramatically. “You may offer a _suggestion_ but I reserve the right to say no.”

“Ok,” Peter nodded eagerly. “Uh… Phillip Phillips? Ok, what about Coldplay? OneRepublic? What? Imagine Dragons? Oh my gosh, _why_?”

Tony had answered Peter with a shake of the head and a growing expression of distaste at each suggestion. “Uh, because that’s garbage music.”

Peter’s jaw dropped. “Hey! I _like_ it!”

“Well, you like garbage music,” Tony shrugged. “Not my fault.”

“ _Tony_ , your music hurts my ears!” Peter protested with a little smile. “I have sensitive ears.”

“I turned it down!”

Peter frowned but couldn’t hold it for very long. He was in too good a mood. And they were only a couple minutes away anyway so he decided he could put up with Tony’s music. And he _had_ turned it down, after all.

There weren’t too many people at Peter’s favorite bakery, which was both good and bad. On the one hand, it meant less of a crowd and a shorter wait. On the other hand, it meant it was harder to blend in so if anyone was paying enough attention it would be virtually impossible for Tony to hide.

Peter went to get their favorite table, which was small with only two chairs and located in a back corner, just out of sight unless you walked that way. Tony went to order their food and due to there being no line, he was coming over to the table in a matter of minutes. There were a few people sitting or standing around the bakery and all of them seemed to be watching Tony, though none of them said anything. Peter was grateful for that.

“Did they say how long it would be?” Peter asked as soon as Tony sat down across from him.

Tony nodded and scooted his chair in. “Yeah, they said only a couple minutes since they have some in the oven already and they’re almost done. I figure we’ll order whatever we’re bringing home later so it’ll be fresher.”

Peter crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward. “So I told Ned and MJ they could come to the tower and we’d all go to dinner together. Mostly because I don’t know what we’re getting. What are we getting?”

“It’s your birthday,” Tony shrugged one shoulder. “You tell me.”

“Tacos?”

“Ok,” Tony nodded, leaning back so his chair was balanced on the back legs. “Is it Mary Jane or MJ? Because I’ve heard both now.”

Peter felt his cheeks heat up a little bit and knew it was showing when a slow grin spread on Tony’s face. “Her name is Mary Jane but we call her MJ some of the time. So have you found anything about the Goblin?”

Tony’s grin grew even wider. “You can change the subject if you want to but we’re not talking about _that_ today. Not unless something big happens.”

Peter shrugged a little. “Ok. So what do you want to talk about? _Other_ than Mary Jane.”

Tony dug his hand around in his pocket. “How about your present?” He pulled out a brand new smartphone and tossed it at Peter, who caught it without even looking. “Happy birthday!”

“Um… thank you,” Peter said, a little confused by the abruptness of it. He put it in his own pocket, not really wanting to spend breakfast setting up a new phone. He could do that later.

“Sure, kid. I’ve got something else though,” Tony told him, unable to hold back a smile. “Something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

Tony let his chair fall back the right way, leaning closer to Peter in the process. “Your aunt called me this morning.”

“May?” Peter asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Yes, what other aunt do you have?” Tony asked, making Peter roll his eyes.

“Why did May call you?” Peter asked, his smile faltering a little.

“Well,” Tony leaned even closer, lowering his voice. “She wants to meet with me next week. Talk about the possibility of adoption. I’m going to meet with my lawyers this weekend if I can - maybe even call them a little later today - and see what we can do to start moving forward now so we can get through the process as soon as she agrees. Because she’s only tentatively agreeing right now but I think she’ll come around pretty soon if this goes well.”

Peter was barely breathing and his face was unreadable. Just when Tony had been about to ask if he was ok, his mouth split into a grin and he launched himself forward, wrapping his arms tightly around Tony and ignoring the table between them. “You really think she’ll say yes?”

Tony nodded, hugging Peter back with a little laugh. “Yeah. I really do.”

“And I’ll get to be a Stark? I’ll be yours and you’ll be mine?”

“Yeah,” Tony laughed. Peter let go and sat back down, ignoring the people staring from a few tables away.

“Tony, that’s the best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten.” He said it so sincerely Tony wanted to hug him again.

“Well, it hasn’t happened yet,” he reminded him, smiling at Peter’s shining brown puppy eyes.

“I know but it’s still the best,” Peter told him, grinning ear to ear. “Just knowing it’s closer to happening is amazing.”

“Wow, I could’ve skipped the phone altogether,” Tony chuckled, resting his chin in his hand and his elbow on the table. “But then you’d probably still ignore all my calls. I’m really hoping that’ll stop with this one. Because I hate that.”

“Tony, I don’t ignore them. My phone just doesn’t make noise and I -”

“Yeah, and now you have a nice phone that won’t do that,” Tony smirked. “So I’ll find out if that was just a made up excuse or a legitimate issue. But you seriously needed a new phone anyway. I mean, what is that this? Like, five inches thick?”

Peter just rolled his eyes and laughed. He couldn’t get the smile off his face if he tried, which he wasn’t going to anyway. He was having the best birthday he’d ever had. Ever.

“Oh yeah,” Tony raised his eyebrows, remembering something. “May said happy birthday, by the way.”

“Do you think she’ll talk to me again?” Peter asked.

Tony nodded. “Yeah, I think she will someday. Maybe not today.”

Peter shrugged a little, still smiling. “That’s ok.” He didn’t need her to.

Their cinnamon rolls were brought over to them then and Peter remembered once again how hungry he was. He was already on his third one when Tony finished his first. Tony teased him about being a starving teenager the whole time, which only earned him a light kick under the table.

They weren’t there too much longer and mostly just ate in silence the rest of the time before they left. Peter went to order more and might have ordered a little more than they’d agreed on but Tony didn’t say anything.

They were still warm when they gave three to Happy, who appreciated them very much. He made sure all the other employees nearby could see that Tony Stark had brought cinnamon rolls for him and only him. Just as Tony and Peter were going to head back up, he called Peter back, fumbling in his pocket while chewing his food.

“Hey, hey, wait a second,” he held out his bag of cinnamon rolls for Peter to hold so his hands were free. “Here, I got you a birthday present.”

He held out a keychain that looked like a little spider web. Peter took it and handed back the bag.

“Thanks, Happy,” he grinned. “This is really cool!”

“I just thought since you’re sixteen you’ll be learning to drive soon,” Happy shrugged. “Figured a keychain might come in handy.”

Peter gave him a quick hug and put the keychain in his pocket. “Thanks,” he said again, smiling as he and Tony got into the elevator.

“So,” he said, turning to look up at Tony. “Are you gonna teach me how to drive?”

Tony looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah. Not right now though. We just got back.”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, I know not right now. But I _do_ get to learn though, right?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t know,” the teenager shrugged. “Ben and May said I don’t need to know how to drive because I can just walk or take the subway.”

Tony scoffed. “Well, you _can_ but you can still learn to drive if you want. And what if you decide to move out of the city or something? You might need a car to get places. Of course I’ll teach you to drive. Don’t be ridiculous.”

The elevator door opened and Tony went straight to set the bag of cinnamon rolls on the counter.

“Ok,” he said, putting both hands on the countertop and looking at Peter. “What do you want to do until your friends show up? It’s your day so whatever you want.”

Peter stood there thoughtfully for a minute. “Uh… I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Come on, there’s nothing?”

Peter shrugged. “How about for now we watch Doctor Who and eat more cinnamon rolls?”

Tony nodded, opening the bag and emptied it onto a plate while Peter got the tv set up, going over to sit on the couch.

“Are you legitimately planning to eat only cinnamon rolls and tacos today?” Tony questioned, walking over to join Peter with the plate. “Because I guess it’s fine if you are but I just want to know.”

Peter laughed. “I hadn’t thought about it.”

“That’s fair,” Tony shrugged, picking up one of the cinnamon rolls and leaning back, one arm stretched out across the back of the couch. Peter pressed play once he found the episode they’d left off on the last time they’d watched it and leaned back as well. Tony smiled at the way Peter just naturally went to sit under Tony’s outstretched arm, up against his exposed side. And he smiled even wider at how perfectly Peter fit there and how natural it felt to him too. His arm came down, wrapping around Peter’s shoulders.

Tony liked how happy and relaxed they were around each other. This was just _right_.

-

“Woah,” Ned breathed as walked into Tony and Peter’s living area. It was about all he’d been saying since he got to the tower.

Peter had been down at the receptionist’s desk waiting for him and had taken him up with him. Everything had amazed Ned. Even the elevator buttons, which he insisted looked better than normal ones.

“This is so cool,” Ned told Peter, turning around to see everything. “I can’t believe you live here.”

“I know,” Peter whispered excitedly, grinning. Tony wasn’t in the room and they were still waiting for Mary Jane to get there so it was just the two of them. Seeing Ned get so excited about things that had become an ordinary part of his life made Peter remember how he’d felt the first time he’d been there. It really _was_ pretty cool.

“When is Mary Jane going to be here?” Ned asked, walking around and just gazing at every little detail.

Peter shrugged, sitting on one of the barstools and watching his friend. “She said she’d be a little late so I told her to just call or text when she got here and I’ll go down and get her.”

His friend nodded. “Where’s Tony?”

Peter shrugged again. “Hey, FRIDAY, where did Tony go?”

“To his workshop and then to his room,” the AI answered. Ned’s jaw dropped.

“So… he’s in his room right now?” Peter asked.

“Yes.” Peter would almost say she sounded annoyed.

He rolled his eyes and smiled. “Well, excuse me for wanting to check,” he said under his breath, hopping down from the stool. He looked over at Ned, who still looked completely awed. “I’m gonna go find Tony. Maybe… don’t touch anything. Just to be safe.”

Ned nodded and sat on the couch, hands at his sides. His eyes continued to wander and Peter chuckled, going off to Tony’s room.

“Hey, Tony,” he said, swinging the door open. “Ned is here but we’re still waiting for Mary Jane. You don’t have to come out yet if you don’t want to. I just thought I’d let you know.”

Tony nodded, standing up from the corner of his bed, where he’d been sitting. “Thanks, Peter.”

“Sure,” Peter nodded. “What were you doing?”

“I was just on the phone,” Tony answered him, slipping said phone into his pocket.

“With who?”

“One of my lawyers,” Tony told him, coming over to where Peter was standing at the door so they could leave the room together. “I was just talking to him about everything. Trying to figure out what all I’m going to have to do to get approved to adopt you.”

Peter nodded, standing in the hall as Tony shut the door. “What did he say?”

“He thinks I’m going to have to make sure they don’t have any doubt that I’ve… you know, changed,” Tony shrugged.

“You have though,” Peter said. “Why is anyone doubting that?”

“They’re not necessarily,” Tony told him, starting down the hall. “He just wants to make sure they won’t once we actually start moving with this. Come on, keep up.”

Peter hurried forward so he was right behind Tony. “Well but, what do you have to do? I mean, they can doubt you no matter what, right?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah. Listen, don’t worry about it,” he glanced over her shoulder. “We’ll be ok. I was just talking to him. Making sure we’re on the same page and everything. Now when’s your girlfriend getting here?”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Peter protested, whacking Tony shoulder. “And I guess whenever she -”

His phone started ringing then and he pulled it out to answer.

“Oh hey, Mary Jane!”

Tony turned around and smirked as they came out into the living room where Ned still was.

Peter glared at Tony a little and started heading to go downstairs. “Yeah, I’ll be right down. Just wait there.” he hung up and pointed at Tony as he stepped into the elevator. “Stop teasing. Be nice!”

Tony laughed as the doors closed and Peter disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, May's finally coming around! ;D Also, I know this chapter's kinda short but the next one, which is on Thursday, is 6k!


	15. Chapter Fifteen

“So, how long have you three been friends now?” Tony asked conversationally, linking his fingers together and putting his hands on the table. They had just gotten to the restaurant Peter had picked and ordered their food before going to find a table. Tony and Peter were on one side, with Peter by the wall. Mary Jane and Ned sat across from them.

“Oh, Peter and I have been best friends since we were nine,” Ned beamed, happy to be talking to Iron Man about anything. “We met at school after my parents decided to move and I had to change schools.”

“Hey, remember how we used to spend all of recess under that big tree in the playground?” Peter asked his friend excitedly, a wide grin on his face. “I was so excited because no one else ever wanted to just sit and talk and there was finally someone who would!”

“I don’t remember you just wanting to sit and talk every time,” Ned smirked, making Mary Jane hide a snicker by sticking her straw in her mouth and guzzling soda. Tony raised an eyebrow as Peter started to blush.

“What is that supposed to mean?” The billionaire asked them.

Ned laughed a little and explained. “He kept trying to climb the tree but he could never hold on. He was determined though so he didn’t stop trying until the day he fell and broke his ankle. He cried the rest of the day and Flash wouldn’t stop making fun of him for it.”

“To be fair, I was _maybe_ ten at the time,” Peter defended when Mary Jane fought back more laughter. “And I wasn’t very good at climbing then. Or holding on to branches. Plus, I don’t think it’s that funny. I developed a very serious fear of heights after that!”

“Peter, you are not scared of heights,” Tony deadpanned.

Peter’s eyes grew. “Yes, I am! I’m mostly over it now but I totally am. I kinda have to remind myself not to look down, like, every day now.”

Everyone laughed at him then and he felt his face turn another shade of red - although he laughed a little too. It _was_ sort of funny. He could totally own that tree now…

“That was one of the first times I talked to you, wasn’t it?” Mary Jane spoke up, looking at Peter. “When you broke your ankle?”

“Yeah, you told me I was stupid,” Peter recalled. “But the first time you spoke to me was when I was helping Uncle Ben carry in the groceries the week after my parents left - I’m pretty sure it was Tuesday but it could have been Wednesday - and you asked for one the juice boxes he let me get. It was apple ‘cause that was all I liked to drink then. Then you sat on your lawn and watched us carry everything else in while you drank it and I was pretty sure you were waiting to make sure there was nothing else you wanted too.”

Everyone just looked at Peter then. A slow smirk formed on Mary Jane’s face and she leaned down to her straw again, playing with it her mouth while she drank. “That was oddly specific,” she commented after she took the straw back out of her mouth.

“I just… remember random things like that a lot,” Peter told her, pretty sure his face was going red again. He distracted himself by guzzling some of his own soda and decided to ignore it when Tony nudged the side of his foot with his own.

“So you two were neighbors?” Tony asked.

Mary Jane nodded and smiled at him. “Yeah, we were. Well, at least from when his parents left him to… when he moved to the apartment.”

“May and I had to move after Ben died,” Peter informed Tony, who looked a little confused. “We didn’t have enough money and we didn’t really need a whole house anyway.” He shrugged casually and drank some more soda, wishing he’d just gotten a bigger size cup because he didn’t want to have to get up to refill it.

“I guess we were neighbors for almost ten years, huh, Peter?” Mary Jane asked. He nodded and she turned back to Tony. “We didn’t really start getting to know each other very much until a few years ago. I used to have more friends but I guess once people started trying to be cool I just got left behind with these two losers.”

Ned snorted and Peter grinned playfully, kicking Mary Jane’s leg under the table.

“So you grew up next door to each other but you didn’t talk?” Tony questioned, looking between the two of them. “Why’s that?”

“Well, I don’t… I don’t spend much time at home,” Mary Jane shrugged. Peter looked down at his soda, stirring the straw around awkwardly. “And like I said, I kind of had other friends before. So I was mostly just with them.”

“Even as a little kid? You just weren’t at home?” Tony asked, genuinely curious.

“Mary Jane used to spend all her time at the park,” Ned put in. “A lot of kids in our class and a few others did that. I did sometimes but my mom wouldn’t let me go on my own and I was embarrassed about it so I didn’t go very often.”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, he’s just come to my house to build Lego sets and stuff.” He looked over at Mary Jane. “What did you guys even do at the park?”

She shrugged again. “Not much. Just messed around and stuff. It was just a good way to get away from all the grownups and stuff.” She smiled a little, clearing her throat awkwardly when she saw noticed Peter frowning. “Anyway… Peter, have you had a good birthday so far?”

“Oh, yeah!” Ned lit up. “When are we giving you your presents?”

“Good question,” Tony agreed, pointing a finger at Ned. “Peter, do you want to do presents before or after we get our food?”

“Can we just… hang out?” Peter shrugged. He hadn’t really gotten to do a lot of that lately. Besides, he didn’t really like sitting around opening presents while people stared at him. It was awkward. “I mean, we can just do that some other time, right?”

Tony nodded, smiling easily. “Oh, sure. Whatever you want, kid. Like I said before, it’s your day. We can all go back to the tower after we eat. I still have one more thing for you.”

Peter wondered if it was weird that his first thought was that he was going to have a lot of trouble thinking of something to give to Tony when his birthday. Was there even anything Tony didn’t have? And then it occurred to Peter that he didn’t actually know Tony’s birthday. He’d have to look that up later…

But why did Tony think he had to give him so much? He’d already given him a phone. So he certainly didn’t have to give him anything else. And not only that, they were getting closer to Tony being able to adopt him. So Peter really didn’t think he needed anything else. He was pretty happy as it was, really.

“That’s probably better,” Ned admitted. “My birthday gift might be a little awkward to give you at a restaurant. But can we really go back to the tower again?”

Peter laughed at the eager look on his friend’s face. Mary Jane rolled her eyes a little, a disinterested look on her face. But Peter knew her better than that.

“You could’ve been spending time at the tower all Summer,” Tony told him, nudging Peter’s side. “This idiot just felt bad asking.”

Ned’s face turned to an expression of complete shock and disappointment. The thought of all those missed opportunities for fun sleepovers and exploration of Iron Man’s famous tower crushed him. “Peter!” He gasped, sounding scandalized.

“What?” He laughed a little. “You got to see it today and now you get to go back after we eat. So why complain?”

“ _‘Why complain_ ’?” Ned repeated disbelievingly, looking imploringly at Mary Jane. “Are you hearing this?”

She smirked at him and rested her chin in her palm. “Well, I kinda was lied to all year so I think I would have more reason to complain… but you don’t hear me doing it, do you?”

Ned was about to say something when their order number was called. He jumped up and volunteered to get the food, telling Tony he was more than glad to do it when the man offered to go instead. Tony shrugged and smiled gratefully, letting Ned go. The three left at the table sat there in silence for only a moment.

Then Tony nudged Peter again, getting his attention. “Hey, do you want to know what else I’m giving you?”

Peter scoffed and looked at Tony with a deadpan expression. “You really don’t understand how gifts are supposed to work, do you?”

“Please. I don’t care about how anything is ‘supposed to work’,” he said, mimicking quotation marks with his fingers. “I can do it however I want.”

Peter sighed, a smile forming on his lips. “Yeah, go ahead,” he allowed with a small shake of the head.

“Ok, great,” Tony grinned, turning in his seat so he could face Peter a little better. Ned came back to the table and set down their tray while Tony started to tell Peter about his other birthday gift. “Now listen - you don’t get to feel guilty about this or anything, ok? Because really, I would’ve just given this to you on a normal day, it’s just that your birthday was so close so I saved it.”

Ned, who was finding his food from the tray to set down at his place, looked intrigued. “What are we talking about?”

“The awesome new suit I made for Peter,” Tony supplied casually, giving a pleased grin at the awed expression that took over Ned’s features. His eyes grew and his jaw dropped at the same time that the corner his lips went up slowly.

“Wait, you made me another one?” Peter asked, now pretty interested himself. Tony nodded, looking extremely happy with himself.

“So, we get to see it when we go back to the tower?” Ned asked in an amazed whisper, leaning forward a little, trying to keep the conversation at their table. He had a tendency to freak about things like this, which had absolutely horrified Peter in public places a number of times. He’d been making an effort to be more hushed about it, if only for the sake of his friend’s sanity.

Mary Jane’s eyes even lit up a little, though she was trying to keep her expression neutral and pretend she hadn’t just perked up in her seat. Peter realized that if they got to see the new suit it would be the first time Mary Jane had really been included in anything Spider-Man related. It really would be nice not to have to lie to her any longer.

“Well, I don’t see why not,” Tony said, looking questioningly at Peter who raised his eyebrows excitedly and nodded. “Ok then! I guess now I’ll be looking for the approval of three teenagers instead of one.”

“If you made it, it’ll be awesome,” Ned gushed, digging into his food. “Spider-Man has looked totally kick-butt since you started helping him. The first suit was weird.”

“Hey, I didn’t have a lot to work with!” Peter defended, though he was still smiling. “But you’re right. Tony made it cooler.”

Tony gave peter a satisfied smirk. “Well, thank you very much. I like to think I know a thing or two about -”

“You’re rich so it’s easier to make cool stuff,” Peter interrupted before taking a huge bite of one of his tacos. Wow, he was glad he’d asked for tacos… “Tony, can we order more?”

“You _just_ started your first one. Finish those three and then we’ll talk,” Tony told him, starting to eat his own.

“No but I am so hungry!” Peter insisted, one hand in front of his mouth since he hadn’t swallowed yet. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I started eating!”

Tony chuckled and shook his head a little. “Yeah, that’ll happen when you only eat cinnamon rolls all day.”

Mary Jane snorted, earning a little glare from Peter. She teased him enough about his eating habits since he’d been going to school with at least seven granola bars in his backpack through the past year. He really didn’t need her teasing about only eating cinnamon rolls.

“Tony, I don’t really care if it’s reasonable or not,” Peter continued to argue, ignoring Mary Jane’s amused expression. “Can you please just order more?”

Tony sighed, opting to just slide one of his over to Peter instead. Peter started to protest but Tony cut him off before he could. “No, you wanted more so you can have mine. If either us are still hungry when we’re done, we can order more _then_. Now eat fast because I want to give you your new suit.”

Peter’s phone pinged then, alerting him of a text. He and Tony had set up his new phone and he was still getting used to the newness of it but he’d been able to keep his old phone number, which was nice. And while the phone would take awhile for him to get hang of using, he still had his contacts and had been able to save all of his pictures so he didn’t have to start completely over.

That was why it was a little surprising that the phone only displayed a number on the notification, not a name. If he hadn’t been able to transfer his contacts, he would’ve expected that. He rarely got wrong number texts but figured that was all it was as he unlocked the phone, leaning back from the table and only sort of paying attention as he heard Tony making a request for embarrassing stories about Peter. Geez.

**Happy birthday.**

Peter furrowed his eyebrows and frowned down at the phone’s screen. Would it be completely impossible that someone had texted the wrong number while trying to reach another person whose birthday was that day? No. Improbable though? Definitely.

He double checked his contacts list, wondering if he’d missed someone. But no, they were all there. And it wasn’t like Peter even had that long of a contacts list so it was unlikely that he just wasn’t remembering everyone.

But who would have his number, know it was his birthday, and care enough to say something even though he didn’t know them well enough to have them listed as a contact? Peter had no idea.

Shrugging, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and leaned forward, going straight back to eating his amazingly delicious tacos. He really wondered if they were actually that good or if he was just that hungry.

Mary Jane was telling Tony about when they were around ten and had been assigned to write about and draw a picture of whoever their hero was. Peter had picked Iron Man. It really wasn’t that unusual or embarrassing of a thing for a kid to do, especially then. It had been right after the Avengers saved New York for the first time and a lot of kids picked Avengers. It wouldn’t be embarrassing to anyone else. But it was embarrassing to Peter in front of Tony and Mary Jane knew it.

Tony, however, was positively beaming. He was clearly listening to every word of the story, which Ned was helping to recount as well. And there a lot of little details for him to throw in too. Because it wasn’t _just_ the homework. Peter had been completely enamored with Iron Man, begging his uncle for an Iron Man backpack, which he then used until he couldn’t anymore. He’d asked his aunt every day after school if Tony Stark had been on the news while he’d been gone. He had loved Iron Man so much and all he’d wanted was to be like him.

Even as he listened to the two teenagers across from him, Tony couldn’t look away from Peter, who was blushing profusely and refusing to look at any of them, choosing instead to just focus on his food and pretend he didn’t know Tony was watching him.

And it really wasn’t _that_ unusual. Lots of kids loved Iron Man. But this was something Tony had never heard about before. Peter hadn’t mentioned the fact that Tony was his longtime idol when they’d met because he didn’t want to sound like an idiot. Well, that and they’d met under some sort of odd circumstances, which didn’t leave a lot of room for that kind of thing. May had told Tony that Peter was a fan of his when they’d talked that day before Peter came home but he hadn’t thought that much of it.

This was different because he wasn’t just a kid who had grown up loving Iron Man. He was Iron Man’s kid now. And Tony probably couldn’t have even begun to express how glad he was to hear those stories no matter how hard he tried.

-

“It doesn’t really look too different but it doesn’t do all the same things,” Tony explained, standing in front of Peter with his hands resting on his hips. Peter had just gotten his new suit on and was looking himself over, seemingly trying to analyze every subtle difference. Mary Jane and Ned were standing behind and to the side of Tony.

“What does it do?” Peter asked, looking up, his mask’s eyes whirring slightly as they widened. Tony’s face split into a grin, loving the fact that Peter was still somehow able to remind of him a puppy with his mask on. “Does it still have the wings?”

“Oh yeah, those are my favorite!” Ned exclaimed, looking like he might blow up from excitement. Mary Jane looked more subtly intrigued. Tony might’ve guessed that she just wasn’t as interesting in things like this but Peter and Ned knew she was just as excited as they were - maybe more since this was her first time getting to geek out over his suit with them. “Well… maybe not. I kinda love everything.”

“Yeah, those are still there,” Tony said, smiling. “I got rid of the AI though. Well, mostly. I know you didn’t really end up using that much, huh?”

Peter cringed, visible even in his suit. “I’m sorry, Tony, it’s just not -”

Tony waved off his apology. “I don’t care. It obviously wasn’t working for you so I got rid of it. I replaced it with something better.”

“Really?” The teenager cocked his head to the side, curious. “What is it?”

“The Dad Phone,” Tony answered simply, still smiling. “It’s wired into the mask. Voice activated.”

Ned chuckled a little, looking confused. “‘Dad Phone’? What’s that?”

“Exactly what it sounds like, Ned,” Tony responded with a smirk, not missing the slight blush that rose in Ned’s cheeks when Tony remembered his name. “It’s a phone that only calls me, obviously.”

Mary Jane smiled slowly, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. She didn’t take her eyes of Peter’s masked ones, which was a little unsettling. He was used to people looking at the eyes of his mask and not making actual eye contact since they couldn’t see his real eyes. So why did it feel like she was looking straight through his eyes and into his soul again?

For a brief moment, Peter was glad he had his mask on and no one could see him turning red underneath. But then he remembered that at least two out of these three people could probably tell anyway, though he had no idea how.

“Oh, is this is new one?” Someone asked suddenly, coming into the room completely unannounced. It was Happy who had a good natured smile on his face as he walked up to them, tablet in hand. “Looks nice! Has Peter given a spin yet?”

Peter snorted and spun around on his heel, stumbling a little at the end but giving an exaggerated bow anyway. Happy laughed and gave him a little side hug as he walked by them, apparently just passing through.

“Hi there,” Happy nodded to Peter’s friends and stopped in front of them for a moment. “I’m Happy.” Without offering any further explanation and waiting only for both of their names, he left the room with a little wave.

“Hey, Hogan,” Tony called after him, lifting a finger to indicate he’d only be gone for a moment before going to catch up with the man.

“What else do you think it does?” Ned asked, moving closer to Peter as soon as Tony was gone. Peter looked down at the suit again. “Do you think there are any more webshooter combinations? Is that even possible?”

Peter laughed and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess without an AI in here, I’ll just have to ask Tony. There’s no reason to try and hack it this time, anyway.”

“Hack it?” Mary Jane asked, crossing her arms. “Who hacked it? You guys?”

“Well… yeah,” Peter shrugged again. “I wanted to know what else it could do and, like, what I could make it do and stuff, you know?”

“Does it feel any different?” Ned questioned, grabbing Peter’s right arm to examine the suit.

Peter considered that. He hadn’t noticed an immediate difference but now that he was thinking about it, it felt a little thicker. Though maybe that was his imagination now that he was paying more attention than before. “I don’t know. Maybe? I’ll just ask Tony.”

Ned dropped his right arm and grabbed at his left but Peter pulled it back, letting it rest behind his back. Ned didn’t seem to care and just got closer to Peter’s face so he could look at the mask. Peter smiled and just pulled it off so his friend could mess with it all he wanted without being right up in Peter’s face.

Mary Jane chuckled and reached forward to smooth Peter’s hair back down with her fingers. “It was sticking up,” she explained, putting her hands behind her back and rocking on her heels a little. Peter cleared his throat awkwardly and hoped he wasn’t blushing as Tony walked back into the room.

Tony looked curiously between the two of them as he made his way over to the three teenagers. He glanced down at Ned who was seated on the couch and examining Peter’s mask. Tony raised his eyebrows in obviously feigned surprise. He looked up at Peter and smiled innocently at him, pointing down at the mask in Ned’s hands. “Oh! I thought you were _wearing_ that when I walked in here. I guess your face is just so red I didn’t notice it wasn’t your mask. How funny is that?”

Peter glared at him, his lips pressed into a straight line. “You’re hilarious,” he told him dryly. It only earned a wicked grin from Tony, who sat down next to Ned. Mary Jane hid an amused smile behind her hand but she was blushing a little too. Unfortunately for Peter, he was so pale there was absolutely no hiding it for him.

They spent the next couple hours all laughing together and sharing stories. It didn’t seem to matter what the stories were about how many they told. Tony was equally interested in all of them and Peter thought he just liked getting to know him through other people’s eyes. People who had seen him grow up. As embarrassing as some of them were, Peter ended up joining in telling them. He told some stories on Mary Jane and Ned too, though there really weren’t that many about Mary Jane if the goal was to embarrass her. She managed to not get embarrassed very often. Sure, she did embarrassing things sometimes. She just didn’t get embarrassed by them so telling the stories wasn’t as funny.

It turned out that Ned’s birthday present for Peter was in a box in his backpack but needed to be reassembled so he went into Peter’s room for a few minutes to get it ready. Since he’d said he had to assemble it, Peter really wasn’t all that surprised when it was Legos. He’d built a skyscraper that looked like he had just done it on his own with no particular set. There was a toy store he liked to go to for Legos that had huge bins full of loose pieces. You could pick whatever you wanted and weigh them to get the price. There had been a box in Ned’s room for the past few months that he’d been slowly filling up with pieces he got from there and when Peter had asked about it he’d only said it was for a project. Peter was pretty sure this was what his project had been.

“I thought it would look cool on a shelf or something,” Ned explained setting it down on the coffee table with a little shrug. “It took me all week to get right.”

“Wow, Ned, that’s really cool!” Peter grinned at his friend. “You did a great job with it. It looks like an actual set but it’s not, is it?”

“Well, wait until you see the best part. I’ve been working on this forever.” He bent back down to his backpack and pulled out a little minifigure, which he handed to Peter.

He’d gotten all red pieces and put them together. Then he’d taken blue, black, and white paint and meticulously painted on the details to turn it into Spider-Man. There were Lego figures of some of the Avengers but nothing for Spider-Man yet. It was something they’d talked about in length before and Peter wondered when Ned had thought of this.

“Ned… wow,” Peter held the tiny figure in his hands and studied the intricately painted lines. He looked back up at his friend and grinned again. “This is awesome! Thank you so much!”

Ned shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “Well… you’re my best friend. I wanted to do something really great for you.”

It occurred to Peter that this would be the first thing he’d really add to his room in the tower. Tony had made him go out to shop for clothes not long after Peter had tried to see Aunt May. It was clear that he would be staying for a while and he needed more than he had. He was always buying books so he had more of those than before but that wasn’t really the same. Tony had promised Peter that they could change the room however he wanted. New furniture, new paint, decorations. Anything he wanted. But he didn’t spend that much time there, really, and he just hadn’t been thinking about it.

But this was a good start.

Ned had to go home not long after that and Mary Jane decided she would go too. Tony said he’d wait right there while Peter took them back down in the elevator. Ned was all excited smiles, gushing about how amazing the tower was and how cool it had been to get dinner with Tony. Peter could barely keep up. He met Mary Jane’s eye and they seemed to be silently agreeing that Ned was completely precious but so hard to understand sometimes.

Once they were in the lobby, Ned made Peter promise to let them come back, which he finally did. Now that he had officially gotten Tony Stark’s approval, Ned did not intend to let Peter waste it. Mary Jane agreed that she would come back too as long as they’d been invited first since she really didn’t support Ned’s plan of showing up whenever they liked.

Almost as soon as Peter had gotten back into the elevator after his friends left, he got a text message. He recalled the strange message he’d received at dinner and wondered if this was the same person as he pulled the phone from his pocket. But no. It was Mary Jane.

**Hey, sorry I didn’t have a present for you. I meant to but I forgot it. Ice cream later and I’ll give it to you?**

Peter smiled and texted back a quick response saying he’d love that. Apparently he was blushing when the elevator door slid open because as soon as Tony saw him he was making cracks about Peter kissing his girlfriend goodbye, no matter how many times he denied that they were even dating in the first place.

After cleaning up the place a little, the two decided to watch some more tv and eat ice cream before bed. Peter changed back into his clothes and tossed the new suit on the ground, earning a disapproving glare from Tony. He chuckled and picked it up after that, though he still only put it on the table.

Peter was fairly certain he had never had a better birthday.

In fact, nothing seemed to have gone wrong at all.

-

Peter should’ve seen the nightmares coming. How often did perfect days come along for him, really? Probably never.

So the moment he had thought to himself that the day had been completely devoid of problems… he should have realized that he had jinxed it. There was absolutely no way that it would stay true then.

But he’d just been too content to think about it… or to worry. He couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t worried about _something_. At least not before that day.

And that was why it took him completely by surprise when his sleep was interrupted by an evil face he never wanted to see again and by memories of pain that he could somehow feel again as he fought to wake up.

Tony was there almost the second Peter opened his eyes, gasping. And the very moment that Peter became aware of Tony opening the door, he felt himself being gathered up in the older man’s strong arms. Tony held him securely and combed his fingers through his hair. He was saying something softly as he rocked back and forth but Peter was too focused on breathing to pay attention to what it was.

“I didn’t mean to,” Peter whispered, trying not to sob.

Tony sighed and held him closer. “That’s just the same as saying ‘sorry’. Peter, I know you didn’t mean to. You can’t help having nightmares.”

“I didn’t want to wake you up,” Peter turned his head to bury his face some more. “I know you don’t want me to be -”

“ _Peter._ ”

“But I _am_ sorry.”

Tony shook his head and sighed again. “Please don’t be, kid. That bothers me a lot more than you waking me up. Which doesn’t actually bother me, by the way,” he added.

Peter nodded but they both knew he still felt the same way.

“What was it about?”

“You _know_ that already,” Peter breathed, letting his eyes close.

Tony shrugged slightly. “Yeah, I do. But talking still helps sometimes.”

“I don’t… I don’t know if it was real or not,” Peter told him. He could feel Tony go still.

“Um, yeah, it’s _not_. Peter, it’s just a nightmare, ok?” Tony told him firmly but not unkindly.

Peter sat up straighter, pushing Tony’s arms off of him a little in the process. “No, I know that. I just mean… it’s always memories. It’s things I remember. This… it felt like memories but I _don’t remember any of it_.”

“What do you mean?” Tony asked curiously while Peter pulled his knees up to his chest and chewed on his lip.

“Well, I mean… it kinda seemed like maybe it was what happened when… when I was unconscious,” Peter shrugged. “From the - the not-water, you know? But I was unconscious so I wouldn’t have memories from that. So it was just my brain filling in the blanks, right?”

Tony hummed thoughtfully, cocking his head to the side. “Yeah… I mean, that could make sense. Do _you_ think that’s what it is?”

Peter didn’t answer. His eyes drifted down to the sheets on his bed, which he fiddled with aimlessly, resting his chin on the tops of his knees. “I don’t know… I feel like a lot of it was kind of… nothing.”

“‘Nothing’?” Tony repeated, moving so he was sitting next to Peter and could lean back against the headboard.

“Like… I wasn’t seeing anything. Just hearing it. And feeling it…”

Tony frowned deeply at that. Without really thinking about it, his hand moved up to run through Peter’s hair absentmindedly. “So you think it was really the stuff what happened when they dumped that stuff on you.”

Peter nodded, still staring at the fabric between his fingers. “Is that crazy? People don’t normally remember things that happened while they were sedated, huh?”

“Well… no,” Tony acknowledged. “But we don’t really know what the ‘not-water’ actually was so… who knows, right? And this is the first time your nightmares have been like that?”

Peter sighed, finally looking up but now just watching the door. “I don’t know. I can’t always remember. And I kind of feel like maybe it’s happened before… but like I can’t trust my head right now. Is _that_ crazy?” He turned his head then to look at Tony.

He looked so scared and unsure that Tony really wanted to go punch Osborn again. What gave him the right to make Peter feel this way?

“No,” Tony answered softly, shaking his head. “It’s not.”

There was a moment of silence then. Neither of them even moved.

Tony sighed a little and ruffled Peter’s hair once. “So… ice cream and mindless television?”

Peter shook his head wordlessly and leaned back to rest his head on the wall above the headboard. “I just want to sit here, if that’s ok.”

Tony nodded even though Peter wasn’t looking at him.

“Hey, did you give any of the Avengers my phone number?” Peter asked suddenly, frowning thoughtfully. It sort of struck Tony as an attempt to change the subject but he decided to let it slide. Peter didn’t have to talk about Osborn if he didn’t want to.

“Uh… no, I didn’t. Why?”

Peter shrugged. “I don’t know. I got a text and I don’t know the number.”

“Probably just a wrong number text, right?”

He shrugged again. “It said happy birthday… so that’s kinda weird if it’s just a wrong number. I don’t know… I’m trying to think who would’ve been texting me. It kind of seems a little suspicious but I might just be overthinking it.”

“Well, I can take your phone and have FRIDAY find out where it came from. That shouldn’t be too hard.”

Peter nodded noncommittally, turning his head just slightly and looking over at Tony. “Or we could wait and see if they text back.”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “Text _back_?”

“Well, yeah. ‘Cause I texted them.”

“And said what?” Tony questioned.

“Um… ‘who is this’?” Peter chuckled a little. Apparently he knew that had been stupid so Tony didn’t feel a need to tell him.

Instead he sighed and ran a hand over his face. “Ok, Pete. I guess we’ll just see if they respond then. Geez.” He shook his head with a slight roll of his eyes and Peter laughed briefly.

“Well, sorry! I just thought…” he trailed off and raised an eyebrow. “Actually, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Tony sat with Peter until the teenager fell asleep again. He’d continued to talk, mostly just to fill the silence. Tony didn’t add very much to the conversation, stead just opting to give some kind of affirmation when it seemed to fit. Mostly, if he was going to be completely honest, Tony wasn’t actually listening. Instead, he sat and thought. He thought about how unfair it was that Peter couldn’t just have this one day to be completely happy. He thought about how much he liked to be around Peter and listen to him talk, even when he wasn’t _really_ listening. Mostly he thought about how scared and excited he was about being a dad.

Who would’ve ever thought that Tony Stark would be a dad? And by choice too…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have much to say here... other than that this was a fun chapter to write. ;D


	16. Chapter Sixteen

“Peter, do you _live_ on that couch?” Rhodey laughed as he and Tony walked out of the elevator.

Peter responded by throwing a pillow at the man though he kept his eyes glued to his book. He laughed too when heard the pillow smack Rhodey in the face.

“You’re sixteen now, Pete,” Tony told him, tossing the pillow back. No one was surprised when Peter caught it effortlessly in one hand. “Don’t be so immature.”

“Yeah, sure,” Peter responded, finally looking up from his textbook and meeting Tony’s teasing smile with one of his own.

Rhodey came over and sat down beside Peter, picking up all the loose papers and books that were spread across the couch and floor and stacking them neatly on the coffee table. “Seriously though, Peter, how long have you been sitting here? Because this is exactly where you were the entire time I was here yesterday too.” He picked up a book when Peter answered him with only a shrug. “Is this for some kind of extra credit?”

Tony snorted, going over to the kitchen to get himself a snack. After a moment of intense staring into the pantry, he settled on a leftover cranberry muffin from that morning. That batch had actually been deemed “acceptable to eat” by Peter, which Tony saw as a victory. He spun around to face Rhodey and Peter, taking a large bite out of the muffin and cupping his hand underneath to catch the crumbs. “Yeah, no. He just thinks it’s fun.”

“It _is_ ,” Peter raised his eyebrows.

“Never said it wasn’t, kid,” Tony grinned fondly. “Just explaining to our less academically inclined friend here.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes and leaned forward to set the book down again. “So, Peter…”

Peter frowned suspiciously, even narrowing his eyes a little. “Yeah?”

“Relax. I’m not going to attack you, you know,” Rhode chuckled, leaning back again. “I was just talking to Tony. Well… obviously. But anyway, he was telling me about everything. You know, with the adoption?”

Peter nodded slowly. He was still frowning a little but had relaxed considerably.

“Well, listen,” Rhodey smirked. “I just figure that if Tony’s gonna be your dad, that makes me your uncle. See, Tony and I always had this agreement that if one of us had kids, the other one got to be the uncle.”

“What?” Tony laughed, now coughing since he’d been in the middle of chewing another bite of his muffin. “When was this?”

Rhodey laughed too, both he and Peter grinning at Tony as he gulped down some water. “Well, ok, so maybe there was no actual _conversation_ and I kinda just decided that by myself… but still.”

“So you want me to call you ‘Uncle Rhodey now?” Peter laughed, closing the book in his lap and setting it aside.

“Well, I’m not saying you have to _call_ me that,” Rhodey answered. “I mean, you don’t call Tony ‘Dad’ and that’s what he’s going to be.”

Peter’s cheeks went red then and Tony smiled as he leaned his folded arms on the countertop, his eyes twinkling.

A slow smile spread on Rhodey’s face and he poked Peter’s shoulder. “That’s adorable.”

“Stop.” Peter swatted at the man’s finger, fighting a smile off his own face.

“School’s starting up again soon, right, Peter?” Rhodey asked him. “Are you two trying to do this before or after that?”

Peter turned his head to look at Tony.

“I don’t know,” the man shrugged. “I’m meeting with May tomorrow. A lot of the timing rests on how easy she’s going to let this be.”

Peter nodded. “We’ll get it all worked out before school starts if we can though, right? We’ll try at least?”

“Yeah, of course,” Tony assured him. “It’d be easier for you that way, I know. I mean, we do have around a month before school but… I’ve never done anything like this before. It might end up taking a while. Just… I don’t want you to be let down.”

“Let down by you?” Peter asked.

Tony nodded, frowning a little.

Peter scoffed and shook his head. “Not gonna happen.”

“Don’t say that, kid,” Tony told him, smiling almost sadly. “I’ve let down a lot of people in my time. I won’t try to let you down but it might happen at some point anyway.”

“It _won’t_ ,” he insisted, his eyes following Tony as he walked to sit across from the couch where Peter and Rhodey still sat.

“Why’s that?”

“Because I don’t have unrealistic expectations for you to live up to,” Peter told him matter-of-factly.

Rhodey snorted. “You know, that’s not a bad point.”

Tony sighed and smiled as well. “Well… I appreciate that, Peter. Thanks.”

Peter grinned and tossed a pillow over the coffee table. Tony threw his hands up to catch it but it hit him in the face anyway.

“Really? Why are you like this?” He asked dryly.

With a laugh, Peter shrugged and went back to his book.

“Oh, hey, wait a second,” Tony said, tossing the pillow back. “Rhodey and I wanted to ask you something.”

“Right!” Rhodey nodded, looking as if he’d only just remembered. “Peter, would you want to spend a few nights at the compound?”

“Why?” Peter questioned, his expression confused. He looked to Tony for an answer first.

“Well,” Tony shrugged. “I told you I have some meetings this week, right? Clint mentioned having you come over to do some more training so Rhodey thought maybe you’d like to go hang out over there while I’m gone.”

Peter furrowed his eyebrows. “Why can’t I just stay here though?”

“Because I won’t be here and I don’t really feel comfortable leaving you by yourself.”

“But Happy’s -”

“Going with Tony,” Rhodey interrupted. “Do you not want to stay at the compound? No one’s trying to make you.”

Peter shrugged, still looking sort of baffled. “I just… no, I mean, I do but…” He looked at Tony again. “Are _you_ ok with that?”

Tony gave a little shrug in response. “Well… Rhodey’ll be there. He’ll make sure I get you back.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes at his friend but nodded all the same. “Of course. And Tony’s not leaving until tomorrow evening anyway so you can decide later if you want to think about it or -”

“No, I’ll go,” Peter cut him off, shaking his head and pulling his feet up onto the couch. “But why can’t I just go with you, exactly?” He turned back to Tony again.

Tony didn’t answer for a minute. He looked uncertain and stared almost unblinkingly at Peter. “I think there’s a good chance there will be some people around that I don’t really want near you.”

Peter stilled briefly, clearly understanding exactly what Tony meant. He nodded slowly. As much as he wanted to be able to say he’d be fine… it wouldn’t be true and he knew that. “Um… yeah. Ok. So, it’s only three nights, right? Then you’ll come home?”

Tony nodded, leaning one arm on the side of his chair. “Yep. And I’ll call you whenever I can. Just so we can keep each other in the loop or whatever.”

Peter smiled at that. Ben and May would often tell him to call when he got somewhere or that he could call if he needed anything but they didn’t call him that much, really. Of course, he didn’t go that many places without them. Mostly just Ned’s house or somewhere for a school trip. But he didn’t get calls from them unless he’d forgotten to call on his arrival or they had to ask him something. This was new.

“Ok, so what’s in the plan for the rest of today?” Rhodey asked, standing up to go get some water. “I’ll probably just hang around here if you two aren’t busy.”

“No plans that I know of…” Peter shrugged, leaning forward to pick up the stack of books. “I’m just going to go get ice cream with a couple friends later.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Tony slapped a hand down on the arm of his chair. “I knew there was something you were doing… Yeah, because Mary Jane forgot to give you a birthday present, right?”

“Wait, we missed your birthday!” Rhodey exclaimed as Peter nodded at Tony, then looked at the other man. “We’ll have to do a pizza night or something while you’re at the compound, ok?”

Peter started to protest but Tony kicked a foot out, just barely hitting his leg. “Just let them get you pizza. Or make it. You like Sam’s pizza. I bet he’ll make it.”

Neither of the two men failed to notice the way Peter’s eyes lit up at the mention of Sam’s pizza. He tipped his head slowly to the side and then gave a little nod.

“Yeah, ok. I guess that wouldn’t be too bad.”

“What a martyr…” Tony muttered, winking at Peter.

Peter stuck his tongue out, shifting his hold on the stack of textbooks and binders. “I’m gonna go put these away. I’ll be right back.”

He left the room, practically skipping on his way. It really wasn’t fair that he could do that while he balanced an armload of books.

“So you’re really ok with us keeping an eye on him while you’re gone?” Rhodey asked once Peter had disappeared.

Tony nodded but didn’t really look that happy about it. “Yeah, just… you know. Maybe try and get Steve to lay off him, ok? He’s got enough going on without having to worry about Captain America trying to lecture him or - I don’t know, kidnap him or whatever he wants to do.”

Rhodey gave a sympathetic smile. “You know he thinks he’s helping, Tony.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not,” Tony answered with a tired sigh.

Just then, Peter came bounding back into the room. “Hey, they finally texted back!”

Rhodey’s eyes widened a little in shock. Clearly he hadn’t expected Peter to come back so quickly - or so loudly.

“What did they say? Who is it?” Tony asked, trying to stay calm and just looking up at Peter from his chair.

“Oh,” Peter nodded a little. “I forgot to read it. Just a second.” He unlocked his phone and frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. Tony asked again what it said and Peter handed him the phone.

**It’s Harry Osborn. Sorry. I’m such a massive dork, I completely forgot to say who it was! And sorry for not responding for a couple days. I’ve been distracted. Anyway… was your birthday good?**

Tony let out an indignant scoff and handed the phone back to Peter. “Just block him or something. That’s absurd. And how did he even get your number?”

Peter shrugged, reading the message again. Then his thumbs started flying over the screen.

“You’d better be blocking him right now.”

“Wait, who?” Rhodey cut in, leaning forward in his seat. “What’s going on?”

Peter shook his head in response to Tony, not really paying Rhodey much attention. “No, I’m texting him back.”

Tony blinked once and raised his eyebrows at Peter, who was staring down at his phone. “I’m sorry, _what_? Do not text that kid.”

“Sorry, too late.” Peter shrugged and shoved his phone back in his pocket. He put his hands up to stop Tony from talking when it looked like he was about it. “Look, I know you didn’t think I should but I really don’t think he means anything by it and he already had my number anyway so he could probably just find my email and stuff even if I block him and I don’t want to have to block him on everything and especially because I think he’s trying to be friends so -”

“Stop it! I can barely understand you,” Tony told him, sighing and standing up from his chair.

“Wait, those were actual words he was saying?” Rhodey asked dryly, crossing his arms and leaning back against the cushions of the couch. “Never would’ve guessed it.”

“Obviously what’s done is done,” Tony continued to Peter, ignoring Rhodey completely. “But I really don’t feel comfortable with you texting him anymore. Just… you have friends already, kid. You don’t need to be friends with him and I don’t even understand why you want to be, considering how freaked out you were when you met him.” He wandered around the kitchen, opening and closing cabinets without ever taking anything out. He tapped his fingers on the side of his leg, sighing every so often.

“No, I know that,” Peter replied, sitting down in the chair Tony had left. “But I just don’t think he’s trying to do anything wrong and I’m willing to give him a chance. I can always stop talking to him later on, you know. If something goes wrong I don’t have to keep being friends with him. I can just… move on and pretend nothing happened.”

Tony froze and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing again. “Except that you can’t always do that and you should know that, Peter. What if he’s helping his dad?”

“Seriously, who are we talking about?” Rhodey asked exasperatedly.

“What do you think he’s going to do?” Peter sighed.

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know, Pete. I just know it’ll be a lot easier for Norman to get to you if you’re hanging out with his kid.”

“Is this… about Norman Osborn?” Rhodey asked.

“Yes, it’s about Norman Osborn,” Tony snapped at his friend, slamming the cabinet he’d been looking in shut. He looked back at Peter, who had closed his eyes and was clearly trying to steady with breathing. “Peter, you can’t even hear his name without having a problem and you expect me to let his kid near you?”

“I’m not having a problem. I’m fine,” Peter whispered, still not opening his eyes. “Please just… calm down. You’re mad.”

Tony sighed heavily and started taking things out of the various cupboards, piling them on the counter. He was grumbling to himself while he went but wasn’t talking to either Peter or Rhodey anymore.

Rhodey stood and hesitantly walked over to Peter, kneeling on the floor in front of the chair. “Hey… you ok?”

Peter’s eyes snapped open and he nodded stiffly. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“No, you aren’t,” Tony called from the kitchen, not looking up when they both turned to watch him. He just went back to muttering things under his breath.

“Tony, what are you doing?” Rhodey asked curiously, furrowing his eyebrows as he watched his friend move around the kitchen.

“I’m making lasagna,” Tony snapped at him.

Peter opened his mouth like he was going to say something but then closed it again. What was he even supposed to say to something like this?

“Why?” Rhodey asked simply, cocking his head to the side. He looked like he was trying to solve a puzzle. Peter figured he sort of was.

“Because I’ve got to do _something_ ,” Tony answered, flipping roughly through a cookbook. “And this is somewhat productive because we can eat it for dinner later.”

“Have you made it before?” Peter asked quietly.

“No.”

“Then we probably won’t be eating it…”

Tony glared at Peter and sighed. Shaking his head, he went back to finding the recipe in his book and decided to just ignore Peter for the time being. Why was he being so stubborn? What good could possibly come of talking to Harry Osborn? It was stupid. The whole thing was stupid and Peter was being an idiot, which wasn’t right. Peter was smart. Tony had known that since the first time they met - even before because you didn’t have to dig that deep into Peter Parker’s life to realize what a genius he was. So why was he being stupid?

“Well,” Rhodey said patiently. “I’ll certainly be willing to try it. Can I help at all?”

“No,” Tony responded, knowing it had come out a little sharper than he’d intended. He sighed and ran a hand down his face. “Peter, what time are you going out with your friends?”

Peter noticed but didn’t mention the fact that Tony was pointedly not looking at him. He frowned a little. “Now.” He stood up and started to leave, turning around when he got to the door. “Bye. I’ll see you later. Um… good luck with your lasagna, I guess.”

He was gone before Tony could say anything.

“Look at this!” Tony exclaimed the second the door was shut. “Not five minutes after he assures me I won’t let him down and I’ve let him down already!”

“No you haven’t,” Rhodey smiled, grunting a little as he stood up from the ground. “You guys just had a disagreement. Don’t make it bigger than it is. You’re just trying to protect him.”

Tony nodded but looked unconvinced. “Yeah, I just… I don’t like it when he’s mad at me.”

“Tony, I don’t honestly think he is. It kinda seemed like you were the one who was mad,” Rhodey told him, sitting at the island and watching Tony trying to pick between two mixing bowls.

“I’m not mad! I’m just… I’m scared. And I’m annoyed.”

Rhodey nodded. “Right. Well, why are you making lasagna, really? That’s sort of… a little bit weird.”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know… I’m just trying to find a hobby and I guess I decided it’s going to be cooking.”

“You have a hobby. You used to spend all your time in your workshop, remember?”

“A _new_ hobby. Something I can learn,” Tony explained while he read the recipe. “It takes more focus so it’s more distracting. And I’m not in the best mood right now so I just… need to distract myself and get over it.”

Rhodey was silent then but he looked like he understood. “Maybe you should text Peter or something. Just so he doesn’t think you’re still mad at him.”

Tony nodded, straightening up and taking out his phone. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’d really rather not have any problems with each other.”

**Hey, kid. Please don’t be mad. I’m not anymore. I’m sorry.**

-

Peter smiled briefly when he read Tony’s text. He’d been lying and wasn’t really supposed to meet his friends for another two hours. He was really only sitting in the lobby until then.

He typed a quick response but decided to just stay where he was anyway. He’d been sitting in the tower all day.

**It’s ok. I’m not mad. Can we just talk about it later?**

Tony texted back almost the second Peter’s message had been sent.

**Sure thing, Pete. Have fun, ok?**

Peter slid his phone into his pocket and rested his chin in the palm of his hand. He probably wouldn’t have much fun if he was going to be completely honest. He was just a little dejected at the moment and he just wasn’t sure Mary Jane and Ned could cheer him up.

He glanced up with noticed Happy walking towards him, shutting off his tablet as he went.

“Hey, Spider-Kid, what’s wrong?” Happy asked cheerfully, sitting down in the chair next to Peter’s.

“Hey! A little quiet, maybe?” Peter kicked his ankle with the side off his foot.

Happy chuckled a little. “Yeah, yeah, sorry. But seriously, what’s wrong?”

Peter sighed and shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. I just feel like I kinda pissed Tony off but he says he’s not mad so I don’t know. Does he do that? Does he lie about being mad?”

Happy hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe with some people. I think he’d tell you though. Hey, don’t worry about it, ok?” He threw an arm over Peter’s shoulder and gave a little squeeze. Normally that kind of thing made Peter uncomfortable but he didn’t mind it from Happy.

“Hey, Happy?” Peter looked up at him. “Are you busy?”

“Not especially. Why?”

Peter shrugged, his shoulders still slightly weighed down by Happy’s arm. “I’m kinda going to be sitting here for a little while so… do you want to play cards? I have some in my backpack.”

Happy smiled and nodded, removing his arm from Peter’s shoulder and clapping his hands together once. “Well, prepare to lose, my little friend. I’ve been playing cards since I was five, which is clearly a lot longer than you’ve been playing!”

Peter laughed and took the small cardboard box out of the front pocket of his backpack. “I don’t know, Happy. I’m pretty good at this!”

And that was Ned and Mary Jane found them when they got there nearly two hours later. Although by then they had moved to the ground, which made it easier to play.

Peter found that Happy was really a pretty worthy opponent but he had won a decent amount of games himself. They were both perhaps a little too competitive but they laughed a lot too. Mostly at each other.

Ultimately, spending time with Ned and Mary Jane did actually cheer him up. Though he was already considerably cheerier after playing cards with Happy. But just being with friends was nice. He certainly didn’t miss the weight of the secret he and Ned had been keeping. It was easier to talk and they all appreciated the difference.

Mary Jane’s gift ended up being a two volume biography on Tony Stark, which had made Peter laugh quite a bit. He was looking forward to reading it with Tony, who he was sure would have a lot to add and correct. Apparently the biography had not been endorsed in any way and the author even stated that he had never met Tony Stark nor anyone associated with the billionaire and all attempts had communication had gone nowhere. So there was really no chance it was accurate.

Really, the thing that cheered Peter up the most was that Tony decided to text him every now and then throughout the evening. Sometimes he gave updates on how the lasagna was going and Peter was pretty sure none of it was accurate. If Tony wasn’t exaggerating, his latest cooking endeavor was going amazingly well. Other than the updates, he mostly only asked Peter for some of his own. He kept asking if Peter was having fun and accusing him of kissing Mary Jane, which Peter had of course not done. And he’d never thought of it either. Certainly not.

Regardless, Tony continued to make him laugh the whole time he was gone. Peter was certainly not going to mind having a dad if this was what it was like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't think of anything here... But, uh, next chapter is in a week so... yeah! :)


	17. Chapter Seventeen

“Hey, can I bring a few of your shirts?” Peter leaned into Tony’s room, gripping the doorframe with one hand.

Tony looked up from the suitcase he was filling on his bed. He had been gone most of the morning and had only just gotten back in time for some lunch, which ended up being the macaroni and cheese Peter had already started making. After that, he’d gone straight to packing for the next few days.

“Uh, I don’t see why not,” Tony shrugged casually. “You know you don’t fit them though, right?”

Peter nodded but didn’t offer any other response.

“Yeah, ok,” Tony shrugged again. “Grab whatever you want, I guess.”

Peter grinned and went to Tony’s dresser to dig through his t-shirt collection.

Tony shook his head and went back to his own packing. He wouldn’t be gone that long so there wasn’t a lot he had to bring. It was more deciding what items to take that was taking so much time. He actually had a few different kinds of meetings set up. He had to deal with some Stark Industries related business as well as a couple things that had more to do with the Avengers. And at the last minute he had rescheduled some meetings with his lawyers about the adoption to be in the same few days. It would be busy and a little confusing but he had decided that a few busy days away from Peter sounded better than having to leave him for bits at a time through the next couple weeks.

Originally, he’d been planning to meet with May in the middle of the impending few days but after all of his meetings had been moved he’d had to call and change their plans. Really, he didn’t feel bad about it. She’d taken her sweet time in even getting back to him at all and he was fairly sure he was entitled to at least one rescheduling.

Their conversation had really gone pretty well, all things considered. The bruises on Tony’s hand were still clearing up and he’d seen the way she kept looking. They didn’t talk about but Tony knew that the fact that he had broken the jaw of a man causing problems with Peter - and she didn’t even know any of the details regarding that - made her feel guilty. Because would she have punched Osborn in that situation? Probably not.

He knew she felt bad. She’d messed up with Peter a lot and they all knew it. As much as Tony didn’t like to admit it though, she clearly cared. She just didn’t knew how to care the right way. And if she would just stop making things so complicated Tony thought he would be a lot more understanding and sympathetic.

At the end of the day, she’d really been pretty agreeable. Hesitant, sure. But agreeable. She was willing to let it move forward. Really, Tony thought she just wanted to be sure she understood what she was agreeing to and he couldn’t blame her for that. She’d had a lot of questions for him and he really hadn’t been able to offer all the answers.

That was probably the reason she said she wanted to meet up once more before deciding for certain but was fine with him continuing to organize things with his lawyers. Tony was willing to give her that, but just that. He wouldn’t be agreeing to much else if he could help it because he knew that if he never put his foot down she’s just keep saying, “later.”

And that was not going to help Peter.

“Ok… so I was thinking,” Peter said, tossing his chosen shirts on a chair and crawling onto the bed. He sat with his legs crossed and his back against Tony’s pillows. “And I’m pretty sure if you reschedule some stuff you could probably come home a day early. If you do that then we don’t have to -”

“Peter, I’m sorry,” Tony interrupted, smiling sympathetically. “I’ve rescheduled every one of these meetings at least a couple times already. I can’t afford to do it again.”

“Yeah, ok,” Peter nodded patiently. “But what if you just ask? I’m only bringing it up because I just really don’t want to -”

“If we reschedule, I’ll have to leave again later,” Tony told him plainly, going to pick out a few belts. “And you’ll be back at the compound with Captain Spangles. If you really want to do this again, I’ll see what I can do but I -”

“Fine. Ok.” This time, Peter interrupted Tony, rolling his eyes dramatically and frowning at nothing. He found a little bit of thread and flicked around the bedding absent mindedly. “I’m just not really... “ He sighed. “It’s stupid.”

“No, what is it? Not really what?” Tony prodded, pausing so he could focus on what Peter was trying to say.

He looked up at Tony for a moment and then looked back at the thread and continued to play with it. “I just don’t really want to be somewhere without you right now. And I know that’s dumb because I… I’m sixteen years old now and I haven’t even known you for a whole year so it’s really, really dumb. And I don’t know why I care so much but I just do.”

Tony hummed thoughtfully. They really hadn’t even known one another a year yet? It felt like longer. “Well, don’t… don’t feel bad about it, ok? You’ve been through a lot and I’m the one who’s been helping you so… it makes since. And we’ve gotten pretty close these last few months, huh?”

Peter nodded, ducking his head a little.

“We’ll still talk while I’m gone,” Tony reminded him. “It’s gonna be ok.”

“I know,” Peter told him. “I’m trying not to be so worried all the time…”

Tony nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I know. You’re ok.”

Peter gave him a half hearted smile but didn’t say anything else. He was quiet until he told Tony he was going to keep packing his clothes, which was after almost an hour of fiddling with the little bit of thread. Tony noticed that Peter left it on the bedspread when he took the shirts and left.

 _Teenagers_. Tony smiled patiently and threw it in the trashcan by his door.

-

“Ok, so you’ll definitely call? You have to call before you get on the plane and after you land. Just so I know,” Peter told Tony as soon as the compound came into view. His words were rushed, like he was trying to make sure he got everyone out before they pulled up to the building. “And I really don’t mind if you call me even just to say hi or something because I probably won’t be busy. And if I am, it’s still ok. I mean, I just don’t want you to think you shouldn’t call or something.”

“Peter,” Tony turned his head to look at the teenager. “Do you really think I’m going to worry about that? If I want to call, I’ll call. And I _will_ want to call, ok? I promised I would and I’d probably call even if I hadn’t promised.”

Peter nodded, taking in a slow and deep breath through his nose.

“Hey,” Tony said softly. “Relax. You know these idiots already and you’re going to be fine. Obviously it’s going to be less fun without me around but you’ll be ok, yeah? Wanda’ll be there -  and Clint. You like them. Rhodey and Nat are coming with me but only for one day and then they’ll be back. You like them, right? You’re gonna be fine.”

Peter nodded again, and tugged the sleeves of his sweatshirt down to his palms. His feet squirmed around a little and he rolled his shoulders, breathing slowly the whole time.

“Peter,” Tony tried again, still keeping his tone soft. He stopped the car then, having just gotten to the entrance. “Listen to me.”

His eyes snapped up to meet Tony’s. They were just a little wider than usual but he was clenching his jaw.

“I need you to try and relax. I’m not going to able to leave you here if I’m worrying that you’re on the verge of a panic attack. Are you?”

Peter frowned and shrugged quickly.

Tony sighed sadly. “Look, if you really can’t do this I guess I can cancel and - I don’t know. We’ll figure it all out another time, I guess.”

“No, no, I’m fine,” Peter assured him, visibly trying to stop fidgeting. “I just… I’m kinda nervous so everything’s… really, really noticeable.”

Tony nodded and unbuckled his seatbelt so he could turn his seat and face Peter a little more. “Ok. So what can we do to get you to a place where you can go in there?”

“I can go in,” Peter told him quietly, nodding just barely. He tugged his sleeves down so far that his hands, which were balled tightly into fists, were no longer visible as he crossed his arms across his chest. “I’m… I’m ok.”

Tony narrowed his eyes slightly and looked down at Peter’s crossed arms. “Are you… Peter, are you hiding?”

“H-hiding?”

Tony nodded and gestured to Peter’s left arm. “Yeah. It seems like you’re… yeah. You are, huh? You hide it when you’re scared.”

Peter looked down at his covered arm slowly and furrowed his eyebrows. “Do I?”

“Yeah, you do,” Tony murmured, resting his chin in his hand. “I think it’s because you’re trying to disappear. You’re trying to shrink right now and that’s why you keep wiggling and hugging your chest so tightly. You’re still ashamed of it and you think it makes you more noticeable so you hide it.”

Peter bit his lip. “That… makes sense.”

Tony held out a hand and waited for Peter to loosen up before he took his elbow and pulled his arm over to him. Really, it was less like pulling and more like guiding but Peter didn’t fight it. “Can I pull your sleeve up?”

Peter barely moved at first and just when Tony was going to let go, he nodded.

Tony nodded back and carefully moved Peter’s sleeve up his arm, revealing the lines along the inner part of his forearm. He hesitated momentarily and then traced a finger along the vertical line that went down the middle.

Peter frowned confusedly, his eyebrows twitching a little. But he didn’t pull away so Tony didn’t either.

“You do not have to be have to be ashamed of your scars, Peter,” Tony told him. “I’ve told you that. Choose to let it stand for something good. You are strong and you have people who are looking out for you at all times. You know that, Peter.”

Peter’s breathing was erratic, like it couldn’t decide if it was calming down or panicking. He didn’t take his eyes off of Tony’s fingers as they trailed along his arm. He nodded once, the motion slightly jerky. “I know. I do.” Peter’s eyes closed but his breathing was becoming more and more even so Tony waited another minute before he said anything.

“You seem calmer,” he noted, his fingers barely moving anymore. “Are you calmer?”

“Yeah,” Peter answered, sounding confused about it. Tony let go of his arm but he didn’t move it, letting it stay on the armrest instead. His scars were completely exposed and he couldn’t stop staring at them. But he didn’t feel so stuck. Normally when he looked at his arm he felt trapped, like he couldn’t look away no matter how badly he wanted to.

The way he’d felt when Osborn had had him strapped to a table in the sewer.

How had Tony made him feel by doing something that should’ve made him feel so much worse?

“Do you want to try and go inside?” Tony asked carefully, watching as Peter pulled his arm back slowly. “We don’t have to… I can change my flight if I need to. I was going to get there early anyway.”

Peter shook his head. “No, I’m good. Um… thanks.”

“For what?” Tony asked, smiling.

Peter shrugged. “I don’t know… making it better. However you did that…”

“What kind of dad am I going to be if I can’t make things better?” Tony grinned briefly, then put a hand on Peter’s shoulder and squeezed it slightly. “Look… in my eyes, you are unstoppable. Which _means_ that these scars won't stop you from being comfortable and calm and… ok. You can be ok even with scars on your arm, you know that, right?”

He nodded at Tony and smiled. “Thanks.”

Neither of them made any kind of move to leave the car then. It just felt sort of awkward. Peter kind of loved and hated awkward moments, which seemed sort of strange even to him. Obviously, awkward moments make you feel awkward and no one likes to feel awkward. But at the same time… it makes everything feel more real. It wasn’t that Peter ever questioned the reality of his life but… it was nice to know that if he did he could point to awkward moments like sitting in the car after a sort of emotional exchange and not being sure how to transition out of it and say, “look at that awkward thing! Awkward moments are one of the few things that every human being can relate to so my life seems pretty believable.”

At least, that was what Ben had told him just before he’d hit his teens. Peter kind of knew it was just a way to try and make sure he wouldn’t grow up being too bothered by that stuff - which was good thinking on Ben’s part since Peter was clearly the kind of kid who was going to run into a lot of awkward moments - but it still made sense. It wasn’t completely wrong and Peter kinda liked it.

Now that he thought of it, that was kind of what Tony was trying to do with his scars. Make it be something he associated with something good in his mind. Peter didn’t mind that, even it did kinda confuse his brain for now…

So, after giving Tony another smile, Peter decided to get out of the car first.

-

He had only been there for five hours and already he wished he could be back at the tower.

Tony had given him a tight hug goodbye and promised - once again - that he would call as often as he could. Peter had basically stared impatiently at his phone until he got Tony’s call informing him that they were getting on the plane. He wouldn’t really talk to anyone until then but nobody minded too much.

Even though Tony had made him better in the car, Peter went into the compound with his sweatshirt pulled back down to his palms and that was how it stayed for the remainder of the day. At one point, Peter had mentioned how warm it was and Sam had helpfully suggested taking off his sweatshirt and just wearing his tshirt. Peter had just asked if they could maybe turn the temperature down instead and had earned a few weird looks but they’d done it anyway.

He relaxed considerably after he hung up with Tony and knew they were safely on the plane. It was only then that he agreed to play Battleship with Wanda, who was more than a little frustrated when he beat her at every round.

“Why are you so good at this?” she demanded after he sunk her third ship in their twelfth game. She hadn’t sunk any of his that round. “Are you cheating? You must be cheating.”

Peter laughed and shook his head. “Maybe you’re just really bad at it. You are aware that you had the exact same pattern five times?”

Wanda gaped at him. “How do you know that? Why would you even memorize what my patterns were? _I_ don’t even remember all - or any of - my patterns.”

Peter shrugged. “I’m smart, I don’t know! We can play something else if you want.”

She hummed a little, quirking one eyebrow up. “After this round, yes… B-6?”

“You’ve guessed that one every round, you know, and it’s never even been a hit,” Peter told her smugly. “Why do you think that’s going to change?”

“First of all, Peter, I didn’t remember that. Second, maybe because it wouldn’t be impossible for you to put something there after thirteen games!”

“Twelve,” Peter corrected, snickering annoyingly. “And you can go with that if you want but I’ll let you guess something else if you’d -”

“That’s why you keep losing,” Clint announced, coming over to sit on the couch next to them. They were seated on the floor at either side of the coffee table. “He’s tricking you.”

Peter’s mouth fell open and he made an offended noise. “ _Clint_!”

Clint laughed and nudged Peter’s leg with his toes. “You are!” He looked back at Wanda who was looking at Peter as if she had been utterly betrayed by him. “He’s making you second guess yourself every time you’re gonna hit him.”

“I’m not _making_ anyone do anything -” Peter tried to protest, throwing his hands up in the air.

“That’s actually kinda risky,” Clint told him. “Because if Wanda wanted to she could probably just get in your head and see what you’re doing. Or where you put your ships.”

Peter eyed Wanda suspiciously. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Apparently not, since I haven’t,” she replied dryly, crossing his arms. “But don’t count on that staying the same.”

Ultimately, Peter won that game too, even without commenting on her moves. They’d been going to play another game after that but ended up reading instead.

There was a large beanbag in the corner of the room, which they both liked to read on. They ended up dragging it over in front of the couch Clint was sitting on and just shared it since it was big enough. The rest of the team decided to watch movies that night so they all ended up piling into the room eventually.

Peter and Wanda just stayed where they were and ignored everyone. No one bothered them while they read and other than when Tony called to say that they had gotten all settled in their hotel, Peter didn’t really move for the rest of the night. The minute he’d seen Tony’s name on his screen he had hopped up and left the room. After that, he’d just stayed put on the beanbag while he read one of Mary Jane’s favorite novels that she’d lent him.

Even though he sort of wanted to go to bed, Peter didn’t go to the room he was staying until most everyone else had left for their rooms. He figured that would mean less of a chance of someone trying to talk to him. He really just wanted to keep out of the way while he was there. Tony was right. He _did_ want to shrink into the background.

Peter’s room was next to Wanda’s and across from Bucky, which he really didn’t mind at all. They were two of the people he would feel the most comfortable with going to if he needed anything so he was glad to be near them. Unfortunately, Steve’s room was next to Bucky’s. To be completely honest, Peter didn’t really like being that close to him. A lot of his discomfort around Steve just came from a loyalty to Tony, really. But still.

The room was weird and uncomfortable. It felt blank and cold. He didn’t think he would’ve minded if Tony had been in the compound too but he wasn’t. Peter was ridiculously glad he’d thought to bring some of Tony’s shirts because it was only once he changed into one Tony wore a lot that he felt safe enough to try to go to sleep.

And after calling and talking to Tony about nothing in particular for a few minutes, he did actually manage to fall asleep. And he was sort of proud of the fact that he stayed asleep for a few whole hours straight.

But the night pretty much went downhill after that…

-

Peter woke up gasping for air and trying to kick off the uncomfortably rough covers from his body. His cheeks were wet with hot tears and he wiped at them roughly, hating the fact that he was crying so much.

He would’ve thought that seeing something so often would make it bother him less and yet… every time Osborn came back to his dreams he woke up the same way. It didn’t seem to matter how many times it happened.

The door opened slowly, almost cautiously. That was wrong. That was never how it happened.

Wait, he wasn’t at home so who was even coming in?

He couldn’t seem to calm down enough to make himself sit up and look, which only frustrated him even more. He could hear whoever it was saying something but he didn’t understand. Then they were pulling the covers off of him and he was scrambling backward to the headboard, wrapping his arms around his legs.

“Hey, let’s try and breathe, ok?”

Wait, he knew who that was… Peter made himself try and look up from his knees.

Bucky was sitting cautiously on the other end of the bed, watching Peter closely. He was only wearing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, his metal arm shining in the light coming in through the door. He didn’t look like he’d been sleeping so at least Peter hadn’t woken him up. That was good.

Peter bit his lip hard, trying to just focus on something and breathe normally.

_Breathe. Breathe._

“You’re doing good,” Bucky said softly. “Here, let’s do it together, ok? In and out.” He began breathing deliberately, holding each breathe for a moment before letting it back out. Peter tried to match Bucky’s breaths but his own were shaky and it took a few minutes before he was able to breathe without coughing. He continued to rub tears from his cheeks the entire time.

_Breathe._

“There you go,” Bucky murmured. “You’re ok.”

Peter nodded slightly, then coughed again. “Um… I’m really sorry,” he told him, licking his dry lips. “I, uh, I think I’m ok now so you can go back to your room if you want to.”

Bucky shook his head and repositioned himself on the bed, making himself a little more comfortable. “You’re still shaking. And you may not be hyperventilating but you’re still breathing pretty hard.” He paused and tilted his head thoughtfully. “Hey, are you ok by yourself for a minute? I have an idea of something that might help.”

Peter nodded again, furrowing his eyebrows a little. Bucky assured him that he’d be right back and then left the room, leaving the door partially open to let in some light from the hall.

Peter was only by himself for a matter of minutes and just had time to glance at the clock by his bed. Almost 4 in the morning. He sighed and leaned his head back just as Bucky came back in, holding something all folded up in his arms.

“I just thought this might help you,” he said, coming back over to the bed. He shook it out and held it out towards Peter. It looked like some kind of blanket. “Can I…?”

The teenager leaned back slightly, eyeing the blanket. “What is it?”

“Oh, sorry,” Bucky drew back slightly. “It’s weighted. I know the sheets were bothering you but they’re thin and get all tangled and stuck. It feels invasive. This isn’t like that. If it doesn’t help, I can take it out.” He held it back out to Peter and waited.

Peter chewed on his lip hesitantly and then nodded, leaned forward from the headboard. Bucky put the blanket around Peter’s shoulders and waited. Peter was surprised at how quickly it made a difference. The soldier had been right about it not being like the sheets. This was almost like when Tony hugged him, though maybe not quite as comforting.

He held the sides and wrapped it closer around his body, feeling himself relax under its pressure. He sighed and let his eyes close. “Thanks, Bucky,” he said quietly.

“Sure,” Bucky smiled, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Do you want me to go or would you like some company?”

“Um… do you think it would be ok to watch a movie or something? To get my mind off of everything?” Peter asked shyly. Bucky nodded with a small smile. He left the room and just assumed Peter would follow.

When he got out to the couch, Peter saw Bucky always sitting on one end and flipping through the channels.

“You like _Star Wars_ , right? One of the ones I haven’t seen yet is on,” Bucky told him. He didn’t look away from the screen at all and didn’t seem to notice or care when Peter curled up against the other arm of the couch in the heavy blanket and stacked all the throw pillows up on his other side, boxing himself in.

“Yeah, ok,” Peter nodded. “That sounds good.”

The movie played for a few minutes and neither of them spoke. Once some commercials started playing, Bucky suggested getting something to eat and went to get some brownies from earlier that evening.

As soon as he was gone, Peter pulled out his phone and checked to see if he’d gotten any messages. He saw three from Tony and couldn’t keep a smile off his face.

**I’m going to bed now. Hopefully you’re already in bed…**

**You never texted back so I’m guessing you’re asleep? That’s good.**

**Going to bed again. I couldn’t sleep before so I had ice cream. Did you have any ice cream today? I’ll bet they have some if you need it.**

Peter laughed quietly and stared at the screen, thinking. It _was_ only 4 so maybe calling him was a bad idea… he’d just text him. Tony would read it later, when he woke up.

**Hey. No ice cream but Bucky and I are going to have brownies. Maybe I’ll ask if there’s some vanilla to have with it. Is everything going ok with you?**

It might have been two minutes before his phone started to ring. Peter’s eyes widened and he fumbled to answer it, not really wanting to wake everyone up with the annoying ringtone Tony had set up for when he called Peter.

“Uh… h-hey there,” Peter greeted, trying to keep with voice down. “I… thought you were sleeping.”

“ _I wasn’t. I’m still having some trouble with that. Now why are you up eating brownies with Moody Barnes?_ ” Tony asked him. He didn’t even sound tired.

“Well… he came in when I had a nightmare so -”

“ _Are you ok?_ ”

Peter nodded but stopped in the middle of the action when he remembered it was just a phone call. “Yeah. I’m doing ok now. Talking to you kinda helps…”

Bucky came in then and handed Peter a plate. Apparently there _had_ been ice cream because Bucky had added a large scoop of it with chocolate syrup and everything and Peter figured he’d just decided he didn’t even need to ask. Since Peter was still on the phone, Bucky simply sat on his end of the couch and ate in silence, turning the television down to a background noise.

Peter stayed on the phone with Tony, just listening to Tony describe all the details of his hotel room and go through some plans he had for suit upgrades. He just wanted to hear him talk and Tony knew that. He was more than willing to do whatever helped Peter to relax so he talked to him until he could tell the teenager had fallen asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We just really liked the idea of Bucky and Peter being friends... ^-^


	18. Chapter Eighteen

_“Yeah, but why is he wrapped in a weighted blanket though?”_

_“Because he needed it. Why does it matter?”_

Peter’s eyes fluttered open groggily. He could hear people talking somewhere behind him. There was a weight surrounding him that he thought was a person for a moment. But no, that was the blanket Bucky had given him.

He’d fallen asleep on the couch, curled in a ball and leaning over his pillow tower. Bucky must’ve taken his plate after he’d finished, which he couldn’t quite remember doing. The tv was turned to the news, almost turned down entirely and with the subtitles on. Peter wondered if the tv had stayed on all night and someone had switched channels or if someone had shut it off and back on later.

Peter moaned tiredly and pushed himself up into a sitting position. His neck and arm ached from the way he’d been curled up all night. Remembering that he’d slept in short sleeves, he made sure the blanket was wrapped securely around him and covering his arms.

“Hey, he’s awake,” someone said behind Peter, making him whirl around to see who it was. Bucky. He’d changed into day clothes and tied his long hair back carelessly. He held a mug in each hand and held one down to Peter. “You like hot chocolate, right? I kinda thought you might but we can get you something else too.”

Peter smiled in thanks and took it from him, still keeping his left arm safely hidden.

He glanced back behind Bucky to see who else was there. Steve was leaning back against the counter and watching Peter while he sipped from a mug of his own. Sam and Clint were minding their own business and making breakfast. Clint looked like he was making pancakes and Sam was pouring a few bowls of cereal.

Wanda was sitting with Scott at the table and smiled warmly when she saw Peter looking. Scott glanced up and smiled, raising his spoon in some kind of greeting before sticking it in his mouth and going back to devouring his fruit loop cereal. They were the only ones there. That was probably because Natasha and Rhodey were both with Tony until that evening and Vision and Bruce were probably just not in the room.

“Bucky?” Peter said quietly, looking back up at the man, who looked down expectantly.

“Could I get something to eat… maybe?” He glanced back at the kitchen - at Steve - again and then looked back at Bucky, waiting for an answer.

He nodded and smiled briefly. “Yeah, of course you can. Why not? Come on over and you can get whatever you want.”

“Well… just in a minute. I need to go get my sweatshirt,” Peter told him. “Uh, thanks for letting me use this, by the way. It… it helped a lot. I’ll put it - uh, where should I put it?”

Bucky smiled again and Peter was fairly sure he’d never seen the soldier smile so much. “You keep it. Ok?”

Peter was about to protest and say he didn’t want to be a problem but… well, the blanket _did_ help a little. So maybe he’d just use it while he was there and Tony wasn’t. He nodded and bunched the blanket up, holding it so it still covered his arm up while he walked back to get into some jeans and put on a sweatshirt.

The t-shirt felt too good for Peter to want to change into one of his own tighter ones so he decided to leave it on. Since putting his school sweatshirt on over it would bunch all the extra fabric up, Peter decided to wear one of Tony’s plain black zip-up hoodies. He’d taken it with him at the last minute. The hoodie had been in his bedroom for about a week after Tony had let him borrow it and he just hadn’t put it back.

When he came back out to the kitchen, Steve looked at him with raised eyebrows and Peter thought he was going to say something before Sam shook his head at the other man. It looked like he thought he was being subtle but Peter had seen it.

“Webs, you want pancakes?” Clint asked cheerfully as Peter came to stand by him and watch him work. “We’ve got plenty.” He gestured towards the bowl of store bought pancake mix, which was still incredibly full.

Peter nodded and smiled at him gratefully. “Sure. That sounds really good. I’ll just have a couple though.”

Clint raised an eyebrow at the teenager, looking him up and down. “Uh, no. You’re having a lot more than a couple. Seriously, your clothes are literally hanging off of you. You clearly need to eat more. I’m gonna have to get on Stark about that.” He muttered under his breath. Back before the spider bite, Peter probably wouldn’t have heard him.

Sam held a bowl of cereal out to Peter, who was still trying to think of a response for Clint. “Here, have this too. The fruit bowl’s on the table so eat some of that, ok?”

Peter took the bowl and nodded, going to sit next to Wanda where Bucky had put his mug while he’d gotten changed.

“I was thinking a puzzle today,” Wanda suggested, stirring her spoon around in her own cereal. “That’s something no one can cheat on.” She said it with a twinkle in her eye and Peter couldn’t help laughing a little.

“I still say I wasn’t cheating though. Just… being smart.”

“Yes, well…” Wanda smiled back. “There also aren’t any winners or losers in a puzzle. We just work together. So I thought it might be a little more relaxing.”

Scott looked up then, taking his ear buds out of his ears. He’d been watching Netflix on his phone. “Hey, Cassie loves puzzles,” he grinned at them, then realized Peter didn’t know who he was referring to. “Oh, Cassie’s my daughter! You haven’t met her yet. I was thinking though, since Rhodey said we’re doing pizza tomorrow night and they're already visited the city for a little bit, maybe her mom could bring her over or something for dinner. She loves pizza and she hasn’t met everyone so I thought she’d get a kick out of it.”

“I forgot you had a kid. What’s she like?” Peter asked conversationally, picking at the currently bare pancakes Clint had just set in front of him with a promise of more on the way. The various options for toppings were scattered around the table and Peter wasn’t sure what he wanted.

“Oh, she’s incredible,” Scott gushed, grinning from ear to ear. “I think she’d really like you. She’s been getting really into gymnastics and I bet she’d just get a real kick out of all the flips and stuff you can do. Actually, I showed her some YouTube videos of Spider-Man once and she about lost her mind when I told her I’d met the guy!”

Peter laughed at that. It was the kind of thing that made being Spider-Man so great, really. “Does she know about you? Being a superhero, I mean?”

“Oh, yeah,” Scott nodded with a fond smile. “She’s my biggest supporter.”

“She’s adorable,” Wanda told Peter. “I’ve only met her a couple times but she’s the sweetest little girl I’ve ever met. Well, one of two,” she added when she saw Clint giving her a look. “Lila’s sweet too!”

Clint gave a satisfied smile and a wink before turning back to the stove. Peter figured Lila was one of Clint’s three kids. If they were going to have their kids over for pizza, Peter figured now was a good time. Tony wasn’t there so he wouldn’t have to deal with a bunch of little kids running around. It wasn’t something that struck Peter as Tony’s idea of a fun evening.

Eventually, everyone ended up sitting around the table, even though Peter was really the only one still eating after a while. Though he could certainly have eaten a lot, the main reason he was still eating while everyone else was done was really just because he was being so slow and kept picking at his food or pushing it around with a fork or spoon instead of just eating it.

After a while, Steve told him to stop playing with his food and just eat it and Peter really couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He hadn’t even realized he’s done it until Clint started laughing. Startled, Peter looked up at saw Wanda staring at him with a disbelieving look on her face and Bucky not even trying to hide his smirk. Steve just looked mildly annoyed and disapproving.

“Um…” He’d been planning to say sorry but really? He maybe wasn’t actually?

“I swear, you are so much like Tony sometimes it hurts,” Clint chuckled, regaining Peter’s attention. “I wonder how that works though. Are you more like Tony _now_ because you guys are so close? Or are you so close because you were _already_ like him?”

Peter shrugged and frowned thoughtfully. It was a pretty good question and Peter really didn’t know the answer. He figured it could really be either way. And he hadn’t actually thought about it before.

Was he really that much like Tony? He wasn’t sure.

Steve sighed and shook his head. “Is that really even something to laugh about?” He questioned. “Tony isn’t exactly known as a perfect role model, you know.”

Peter frowned and stabbed at his pancakes.

“Well, I mean… most kids look up to their dads,” Scott shrugged, looking at Steve, who rolled his eyes slightly.

“Ok, we are not having _that_ discussion again,” Steve said firmly, crossing his arms on the table with one fist wrapped around the handle of his mug.

“ _What_ discussion?” Peter asked, ignoring Wanda nudging his knee with her own.

Steve only looked at him for a moment, considering his answer.

“How often do you talk about this?” Peter demanded, not waiting for Steve to say something first. “It’s not even your business and you just sit here and talk about it?”

Bruce walked into the room then, yawning tiredly and carrying a book under his arm. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed the awkward tension around the table. “What’s going on here?”

“Steve is just judging Tony for no reason again,” Peter answered sharply, standing up from the table and taking his plate to the sink. “Nothing new or interesting.”

“Now that’s just unfair -” Steve tried.

Peter rolled his eyes again, frowning deeply. “Oh well, excuse me. Didn’t mean to hurt Captain America’s feelings. I’m gonna go call Tony now.”

He left the room before anyone could say anything to him. The idea of slamming the door to his temporary bedroom was incredibly tempting but Peter decided that would just be childish. But why - _why_ \- did Steve have to be like that? Tony wasn’t even there and Peter was the one who’d rolled his eyes at him so why was Tony even getting dragged into anything?

Tony didn’t answer when he called but Peter had used his regular phone so he figured Tony was in a meeting with his phone on silent. He briefly considered using the Dad Phone but he knew these meetings were important and he was just angry; it wasn’t a big enough deal for him to interrupt Tony over.

Instead, he decided to text Ned or Mary Jane. Ultimately, he decided on Mary Jane. Mostly because she didn’t know everything that had been going on and it would give him an excuse to rant about everything all at once without being redundant. With Ned, he’d been getting updates the whole time so he already knew most of the stuff Peter wanted to complain about.

Really, Mary Jane was a very good listener. Peter didn’t think most people would think that about her. She came off as pretty blunt and dry a lot of the time. She wasn’t exactly the most sensitive and warm person in the world. At least, not to most people. She really was in her own way, once you got to know her.

Peter knew that she was a great listener. It was because she would listen to anything you wanted to talk about but then she’s be honest about how she felt about it. So you could complain about something for two hours and she’d let you get it all out and then if she thought you were stupid to care so much about it… she’d tell you. But it actually helped in Peter’s opinion. The fact that she saved it for the end was good because that usually meant he’d gotten most of the anger or sadness or whatever else out and it was easier to listen to her and look at the problem logically.

He only texted her for a few minutes before she suggested a video call instead so he got out his laptop and got comfortable on the bed. Mary Jane wasn’t in her home. She was in that park she used to spend all her time at. Peter figured she’d been reading there. When he asked about it, she just told him she’d needed a little quiet. Peter felt like her house should’ve been quieter since the park was right by the street and it was August so there were a lot of kids running around the park still but he didn’t comment on it.

They ended up talking for a few hours. Once Peter had gotten to the end of his “Steve Rogers can just jump off of a cliff” rant, Mary Jane told him she didn’t think he was necessarily wrong but he shouldn’t let Steve and his opinions matter so much. She was probably right. She usually was.

After that, he let her ask all the questions she still had about Spider-Man and about living with Tony. She laughed at him a lot when they started talking about some of the excuses he’d come up with for the past year. Really, a lot of it had been pretty stupid. He could admit that.

And it felt good to laugh with her, even if it was at him.

-

Peter spent the majority of the rest of that day by himself. He ended up talking to Ned after he hung up with Mary Jane. There was less of a need to rant by then but he still wanted to tell Ned about everything. He talked with the two of them on and off until bed, both in their group chat and separately.

He and Tony texted each other a lot too. Since he was in meetings, Tony couldn’t really call. But texting under the table was something he could get away with so he did. He was mostly only dealing with Avengers related meetings that day and thought they were boring, which meant he had a lot to talk to Peter about. Mostly, he just made fun of the other people in the room even though Peter couldn’t see them and didn’t have too much context.

They spoke on the phone for about a half hour around dinner time but then Tony had to go. It was back to only texting after that up until Peter decided to go to bed. Then Tony talked to him until he drifted off again, figuring it might help him to actually get through the night. He used the blanket again so he already felt pretty comfortable and talking with Tony made it easy to just forget about anything that was still bothering him.

He told Tony about Steve, which hadn’t really gone over well at all. Mostly, Tony was just upset that he hadn’t been there to tell Steve to shut up. He also told him about the plan for Clint and Scott to have their families come over and Peter had been right in guessing that Tony wouldn’t mind missing that.

Other than talking to people on his phone and laptop, Peter really only spent time with Wanda other than a very brief workout session in the gym with Clint and Bucky, which ended abruptly when Steve came in and Peter left without a word. Since he didn’t want to be out with everyone else, Wanda brought a couple puzzles into her room and she and Peter spent some time working on them and listening to music. Wanda didn’t mind his music - unlike a certain billionaire he knew - so he got to listen to artists he actually enjoyed.

Overall, the day wasn’t too bad. He was pretty happy to be mostly alone. He felt like nervous like that.

The next day was almost as uneventful. The only real difference was that Natasha and Rhodey were back, though they mostly kept to themselves in their respective rooms and got some sleep. Peter was sure to talk to Rhodey before the man went to take a nap though. He just needed to ask how Tony was doing. Sure, he’d been talking to him himself the whole times but he wanted to know from someone who had been there that everything was ok.

Really, the biggest difference that day was that Peter was going out of his way to avoid Steve. When it was time to eat, he checked with Wanda to make sure Steve wasn’t out there before he went and got food for himself, which he ate either in his room or Wanda’s to insure that Steve wouldn’t suddenly show up before he was finished.

Ned said it was ridiculous and he should try to be friends with Steve instead. Because Captain America, duh. Mary Jane, however, didn’t really see any reason to be nice to Steve if Steve was going to be obnoxious. Peter was inclined to agree with Mary Jane.

Up until Scott and Clint announced that their families were there for pizza and a movie night, that was Peter’s day. After that, the evening ended up being spent doing flips and messing around with his webs more than anything.

Apparently he was a bit of a pushover when it came to adorable children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little short. Sorry about that!
> 
> I'm happy to answer questions, as usual, but I can't think of anything in particular to talk about here...


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Hey! You busy? Call me if you’re not.**

Tony smiled at the bluntness of Peter’s text. It was just after dinner and he had only just settled down for the evening in his hotel room. He’d been planning on watching tv for a while and probably just texting Peter but calling him seemed good too.

Peter answered the call the second it started ringing.

“ _Hey!_ ” Peter exclaimed, sounding kind of out of breath. “ _How’s it g - whoa, whoa! Give me a second! Sorry, Tony._ ”

“That’s fine,” Tony chuckled. “What’s going on there?”

“ _Uh, I’m playing with Avengers’ kids._ ” He grunted suddenly and Tony could hear the kids laughing through the phone. “ _Guys, hold on! I’m making them a trampoline. But they’re climbing on me._ ”

Tony laughed at the mental image and decided it wasn’t quite good enough. “Hang on.” He hung up the call and then started a video call instead, wanting to see for himself. Peter answered it and probably would’ve dropped the phone if it weren’t for his adhesive abilities keeping the phone in his hand.

Sure enough, Clint’s two older children and Scott’s little girl were trying to hang off of Peter. Cooper had wrapped his arms around Peter’s neck and was dangling over his back. The girls were on either arm, Cassie’s legs wrapped around one of Peter’s and Lila’s feet just above the ground. Wanda was standing behind them holding the two year old Nathaniel in her arms and openly laughing at Peter’s predicament.

“ _How do you expect me to make you a trampoline if you won’t get off me?_ ” Peter questioned, a grin on his face. The kids just kept laughing and held on tighter. Really, Peter could’ve gotten them off easily but Tony figured he didn’t want to try for two reasons. First, it would probably hurt them even if he tied to be careful. And second, Tony didn’t think he actually minded it at all.

“Peter, how are you making a trampoline?” Tony asked him, smiling as Cassie reached up to muss Peter’s hair, making it stick up funny.

“ _Webs,_ ” Peter laughed. “ _Hang on._ ” He managed to get enough control of his body to web his phone to the wall while not causing any of the kids to fall off. Now Tony could see the trampoline his kid was working on and Peter didn’t have to balance the phone on top of everything else.

“ _Girls, Peter can’t use his webs if he can’t move his arms,_ ” Wanda tried to reason with them, shifting Nathaniel to her right side instead of her left.

“ _He can move his arms!_ ” Cassie argued, lisping a little from the lack of some of her teeth. “ _He called his daddy and he had to use his arms._ ”

Peter and Tony grinned at each other through the screen. Peter looked down at Cassie and shook his arm, just enough to bounce her around a little. She laughed and tightened her grip on him.

“So, Peter,” Tony said, getting his attention back from the little girl. “Are you having fun?”

He laughed again and nodded. “ _Yeah, I’d say so. We’re supposed to eat in, like, ten minutes but I was gonna have the trampoline done before then so maybe I’ll stay here for a minute and have Wanda take the kids to the table while I finish it._ ”

“ _No_!” Cooper whined right next to Peter’s ear, making the teenager cringe a little.

“Where’s everyone else?” Tony wondered aloud while Peter tried to pry Cooper’s fingers open a little to loosen the grip he had on Peter’s shirt. But at the same time, he was trying not to drop the girls in the process.

“ _Uh, they’re all inside,_ ” Peter answered, grunting a little. Tony noticed that Peter and Wanda were in an empty part of the hanger with the kids. That was maybe a better place to make a spider web trampoline than in the living room. “ _Sam’s making pizza and everyone else is - ow! Cooper, did you just bite my ear?_ ”

Tony chuckled and leaned back on the couch, just watching Peter and Wanda play with the kids. Wanda was trying to get Cooper down from Peter’s back but it was proving to be rather difficult with Nathaniel still in her arms. They looked like they were enjoying themselves though.

Maybe they’d have to spend more time with the rest of the team. Especially when Clint and Scott were going to have the kids over. Tony liked how easily Peter was laughing.

He’d tell Clint or someone to call and let him know the next time Laura and the kids were coming to the compound.

The door opened and though Tony couldn’t see the person there, he could recognize the voice when they spoke.

“ _Hey, you guys are being careful right?_ ”

Steve.

Tony and Peter shared a knowing look before Peter looked back at Steve with a forced smile.

“ _Oh, so careful, Steve. So careful._ ”

Tony snorted and covered his mouth his a hand to try and muffle the sound.

He heard Steve sighing. “ _Ok, well… Sam said dinner’s ready so you’d all better get in here is you want pizza._ ”

Peter nodded and was finally able to shake the kids off him now that they had the promise of food. He looked back up the phone, which was still stuck to the wall.

“ _Hang on a minute. I’ll be right back._ ”

Tony nodded and waved as Wanda and Peter let themselves be dragged inside. True to his word, Peter only left the phone - and subsequently Tony - behind for a brief moment before showing back up.

“I’ll let you go so you can eat,” Tony started but Peter cut him off.

“ _I’m going in for food in a minute. I want to finish this trampoline first but I won’t take too long. I’m pretty hungry. Just thought we could talk while I’m still out here. Unless you’re busy,_ ” he added hurriedly.

Tony shook his head, still smiling. “No, not busy. So… a web trampoline?”

Peter had gotten back to work already. He already had a pretty simple case to it but was trying to reinforce it and make the gaps smaller to avoid little feet getting stuck.

“ _Uh… yeah,_ ” Peter chuckled. “ _Here’s hoping it works, I guess._ ”

“Why are you making it anyway?”

“ _Um…_ ” Peter shrugged, shooting a web at the far end of the trampoline and stretching it back before disconnecting it from his webshooters and then repeating that to the left. He was going all the way around, bringing each bit into the middle. “ _Well, they asked me to._ ”

“And naturally you had to do it.”

“ _Well, they asked pretty nicely,_ ” Peter grinned, poking at the webs. “ _I’ve never made a trampoline before._ ”

Tony shrugged. “First time for everything, I guess. Listen, Pete, I should be able to get there around dinnertime tomorrow. Do you want to just eat there and then we’ll go or -”

“ _No, let’s just go home as soon as you get here. Please, I’ll even make dinner so you don’t have to worry about anything because I know you’ll be tired but -_ ”

“Peter,” Tony smirked. “It’s fine. You don’t have to bribe me. I’ll pick you up and we’ll head straight back to the tower, ok?”

Peter nodded emphatically and grinned. “ _Ok. That sounds good. I’m gonna go get some dinner now but I’ll still have my phone with me so we can text or something, ok?_ ”

Tony said goodbye but waited for Peter to pull the phone down and hang up himself. It wasn’t very long before Peter was texting him again, telling him how good the pizza was and then how much fun the kids were having on the trampoline. It started out pretty innocent, the way it might expect it to. Just a few kids jumping on a trampoline made of webs. Apparently it didn’t take too long for it to become a game of “pin Peter to the webs and don’t let him up”, which really wasn’t hard since he wasn’t about to fight back.

Wanda got Peter’s phone from him and managed to get a good video of it to send Tony. Even though Tony guessed being around all these kids would’ve given him a migraine, he sort of wished he could've been there. It looked like a fun night.

-

“So, this is surprisingly comfortable.”

Peter gave a breathy laugh and fell back against the webs that were still stretched out in the hanger. It was nearly midnight. Scott’s ex and her new husband - or boyfriend, maybe. Peter wasn’t sure - had left after dessert with Cassie. The Bartons were all still there, bunking together in Clint’s room, which was one of the biggest for this reason. They would leave after breakfast and apparently Clint was planning on staying at the farm for a couple weeks.

Most of the Avengers had gone to bed already but Peter wasn’t tired. Steve had told him that if he was going to mess around with his webs he’d have to clean in all up before the end of the night so he’d decided to go tear down the trampoline, which was just too thick to start disintegrating. But now that he was there, he just wanted to sit on it for a while.

“Do you make these often?” Bucky asked, propping himself up with his hands behind his back. He had come to find Peter only a few minutes after Peter got onto the webs.

Peter shook his head. “No. Well, I make hammocks sometimes. Nothing this big… and not so many layers. I was trying to make it child friendly.”

Bucky chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense… wow, this is really kinda nice.”

Peter laughed again and moved so that he was on his side. “Remind me to make you a hammock some time.”

Bucky nodded again, both of them drifting into a comfortable silence after that. Peter had just started to drift off a little when Bucky nudged him with his foot.

“Hey, can we talk?” He asked bluntly.

Peter blinked at him in confusion and then shrugged, propping himself up on his elbows. “Yeah, sure, I guess. What’s going on?”

“Remember the first night you were here?” Bucky asked carefully. “I thought maybe we could talk about that.”

Peter nodded hesitantly and pushed himself up into a sitting position with his legs folded in, forcing himself to stay calm as he hugged his arms to his chest. “Sure.”

“I just mean… well, it’s clear that sleeping isn’t…” Bucky tapped his metal fingers on his leg as he thought about how to word his thoughts. “Well, it’s not easy for you. Right?”

There was a beat before he answered. “Right.”

“So I’m wondering why that is.”

“Tony says all of the Avengers have trouble getting sleep sometimes.” This time the answer came immediately. He was tense and Bucky could see it. “It’s not unusual.”

Bucky nodded slowly, conceding that point. “Right. Yeah. But we each have our reasons, Peter… Steve and I came from the past where we were in the middle of a war. Our friends are all gone. I was with Hydra for so long and I’m fairly messed up now because of it. Clint and his brother grew up with an abusive dad and joined the circus. Wanda’s parents died when she was kid and then her brother died just a couple years ago. We all have our stories, Peter. And we all have our own nightmares, though I don’t claim to know exactly what they are for everyone. But my point is that there are reasons for all of us…”

Peter bit his lip and looked back at Bucky with furrowed eyebrows. “And you want to know why… why _I_ have nightmares. Why?”

“Because I want to help, if I can,” Bucky answered with a little shrug. “It can make it a lot easier to talk about -”

“I talk to Tony.”

“That’s good… I just thought it might help to talk to someone else too.”

Peter nodded, looking down at his lap. He tugged at his sleeves. Then he nodded again. “Ok. I’ll talk to you because… because I think you’re right and I do need to talk to someone right now. But I’m not going to tell you everything and you don’t need to know everything. Ok?” He looked back up at the soldier with a questioning expression on his face.

Bucky nodded and smiled encouragingly. Then he waited for Peter to feel ready to talk.

“I already wasn’t sleeping great because…” _Breathe._ “I saw my uncle get shot and it was my fault. In a way. And my parents died when I was a kid so - so it was just really hard to get past because it felt losing another dad, sort of.” He pulled his knees up to his chin and kept his eyes down, staring hard at his feet. “But now it’s mostly just because of something that happened back in January… which I was going to say is too long ago to still care but I realize that would be insensitive.”

Bucky breathed a little laugh but didn’t say anything. Just listened.

“I was just trying to help and I ended up in a sewer with - um,” he huffed in frustration at the way his toes were starting to tap without him wanting them to. “It was Norman Osborn and I - he…”

“Peter,” Bucky said softly. “Take your time. I’m not trying to push you, ok?”

“I know,” Peter sighed, pausing for a minute. “I’m just - I’m breathing.”

Bucky nodded and watched as Peter closed his eyes and took steadying breaths. It didn’t take him too long to open his eyes again. That was good.

“He had this stuff that wasn’t - it wasn’t water. So I just call it not-water because… because I don’t know what else to…” he cleared his throat. “It made me all foggy and I couldn’t make myself do anything and then I was just… it knocked me out, I guess. He said it would kill normal men. When I woke up, I was on… um, a table. And they had me strapped down and they were -” _Breathe._ He felt his eyes burning and rubbed the forming tears away. “They were experimenting on me. They were cutting into me and - taking things. I don’t know what. I’m… I have these scars now and I hate it. I was still foggy and I didn’t - I _couldn’t_ understand what they were doing and I just _hurt_ and I was scared and alone and I don’t know what they would’ve done if Tony -” His voice broke with a sob and he couldn’t look at Bucky. He was saying more than he’d ever wanted to and he didn’t want to know what Bucky was thinking. _Breathe. Breathe._ “Tony saved me. And then he saved me again when I was alone _again_ and he’s… Tony helps. He _helps_ and I usually can’t feel better until Tony’s there so I was scared to be here without him. But I’m ok. I’m doing ok but I’m still kinda scared and I can’t help it and, Bucky, I don’t want Steve to take Tony from me. If he takes me from Tony then he’s taking Tony from me and I _can’t_ do that.”

“He won’t, Peter,” Bucky interrupted him firmly. Peter finally looked up at him then, tears trailing down the sides of his face. He didn’t say anything. Instead, he just nodded at the man and wiped at his tears with the back of his hand.

“Osborn… he wanted me because I got my powers from a spider from one of his labs. I was there for school and it bit me and… he knows that. So he wanted to know… how I work. And I think…” he shook his head frustratedly. “I don’t know and I haven’t even talked to Tony about it because I mostly didn’t have any ideas about…” _Breathe._ “I’ve been having these dreams and it’s not memories anymore like it used to be… but it _is_.”

“W-what do you mean?” Bucky questioned hesitantly.

Peter shook his head again, tugging agitatedly at his sleeves. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m remembering things that I didn’t remember before and… I think it’s stuff that happened while I was unconscious from the - the not-water. So I don’t know if I was ever actually unconscious because maybe I was just really, really foggy and I didn’t know what… I don’t _know_.”

Peter was openly crying then, apparently unable to decide if he wanted to wipe away the tears or just let them fall. He was breathing hard but it was more from his tears than anything. He wasn’t panicking then. Just scared.

“I need to tell Tony. I _need_ to talk to Tony so I’m just… waiting.”

Bucky nodded, frowning. “Do you want to talk about what you’ve been seeing?”

Peter shrugged, his face scrunching up as he huffed. “I don’t know. It’s just… I’m just remembering what they did and before I couldn’t so… I don’t know.”

The soldier nodded again and sighed quietly. “How often do you have nightmares?”

“It used to be, like, every night… it got better and was just most nights. Living with Tony made the nightmares almost stop… ‘cause he’s always right there and before I just had to get over it by myself so… it made me feel safer. I wasn’t scared to go to sleep anymore and it just happened sometimes. But not these new ones… it’s more frequent again.” He looked Bucky straight in the eye then, his expression concerned. “I’m going to talk to Tony. But it helped talking to you. So thanks but… you’re not going to talk about it, right? You’re not going to tell Steve or anyone?”

“No, of course not,” Bucky answered sincerely, his eyebrows furrowed. “I’m not going to do that to you. This is all staying between us.”

“And Tony.”

Bucky nodded and almost smiled. “And Tony. Of course, _I_ won’t be talking to him about it. That’s all up to you.”

“And I will. I’m going to talk to him about it more when I go home…” He buried his chin into his knees and hugged his legs tighter to his chest again. “And really… thanks for listening. And getting me to talk… I needed that, I think.”

“Of course,” Bucky responded, actually smiling that time. He moved to get up from the webs. “I think it might be time to start thinking about bed. Just… you can leave this here. We’ll clean up whatever’s left tomorrow. Don’t worry about Steve.”

Peter nodded and couldn’t help smirking a little, however brief it was. He slept well that night, knowing that Bucky was still across the hall if he needed him. He didn’t have any nightmares but he made a mental note to tell Tony what he’d been seeing. It was becoming more of a problem in Peter’s opinion and if he had a problem… he had to go to Tony.

This wasn’t going to go away on its own and he doubted that telling Bucky the gist of it was going to fix it, even if had helped him for the time being. If he wanted help for the long run, he’d need Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More of Peter and Bucky being friends. I really like that. ^-^ Hopefully you guys do too.
> 
> You can look forward to another super hero popping in next week! Any guesses who it'll be? ;D


	20. Chapter Twenty

Tony figured that Peter must’ve been waiting by the door or something because the second he came into the compound the teenager was attacking him with a hug.

“Hi,” Tony chuckled, hugging him back and ruffling his hair lightly. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” Peter nodded and pulled back from the hug. “Just missed you.”

“Tony. Peter said you weren’t staying to eat dinner,” Steve said, walking over to them maybe a little hesitantly. “You know you’re both welcome to, right?”

Tony shrugged, keeping his expression neutral. “Yeah, I’m a little tired and from what I was hearing today Peter’s pretty much been training with Clint since he woke up so I think we’d both feel better just heading back home and resting. Besides, I’m the one letting you all live here so of course I’m welcome.”

Peter tried and failed to hold back an amused smile. Tony was right, really. And about both points. Clint had apparently decided to catch up with his family later in the day and work on training with Peter since he felt that the teenager hadn’t done enough of that while he’d been there. So Peter was pretty worn out and ready to be home. And Peter didn’t know if it was just due to other issues he had with Steve already but it sort of bugged him that he thought he had to tell Tony that he was welcome in _his_ building. It seemed a little pretentious.

Wanda came over to give Peter his bag and grabbed him, hugging him tightly. “I had fun with you, Peter. Come back soon, promise?”

“Promise,” Peter agreed, grinning as he hugged her back with one arm, slinging his bag of his shoulder with his other arm. He looked back over his shoulder at Tony. “Wanda can come hang out at the tower too, right?”

Tony nodded and smiled at Peter and then Wanda. “Absolutely.”

Bucky came over to hand Peter the weighted blanket, which he’d tried saying he didn’t need to keep. Bucky had insisted that they had more than one and they are rarely if ever used so it wouldn’t be missed. Peter had sort of wanted to argue that he wouldn’t need it while he was back home with Tony but… Tony wasn’t always there, was he?

He took the blanket with a grateful smile, holding the bulky material with both arms. Bucky gave him a look that he knew was meant to remind him to talk to Tony about what he’d said the night before. As if he needed to be reminded.

Everyone who was in the room said their goodbyes and Peter asked Wanda to let everyone else know he’d said goodbye and had appreciated all of them putting up with him for a few days. Then he’d practically dragged Tony out to the car, essentially melting onto the passenger seat while Tony dumped his things in the trunk.

“So,” Tony said as he pulled the car away from the front of the building. “I’m assuming I don’t need to ask but are you up for a Doctor Who night? I made Happy go buy ice cream while I drove to pick you up so we’re restocked.”

Peter grinned, not actually bothering to answer since Tony was right about not needing to ask him. Of course the answer was yes.

“Oh hey, Tony? I actually need to talk to you about some stuff,” Peter said, reaching to turn down Tony’s rock music a little. “I’d rather just wait until after Doctor Who if that’s ok.”

“Is it something serious?” Tony asked, glancing briefly at Peter before looking back at the road again.

“Uh…” He shrugged awkwardly. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is. But it isn’t urgent. Ok, it kind of is but not _urgent_ -urgent.”

“O- _kay_ … and you’d tell me if it was ‘ _urgent_ -urgent’?” Tony questioned, furrowed his eyebrows and frowning only slightly.

Peter nodded emphatically. “Yeah, I swear. This is… I’m not hiding anything. I just don’t feel like talking about it right now because I’m tired and I just want to sit on the couch with you and eat ice cream and not worry about anything but how the Doctor is going to save everyone in each adventure he goes on. Ok?”

Tony chuckled. “Sure. Ok.”

-

“And what you’re telling me is that you don’t think the not-water actually put you to sleep? Like, at all?” Tony tried to clarify. Peter only shrugged uncomfortably.

It was almost midnight.

The two heroes had spent the entire evening watching tv and had finally decided that it was time to talk when they got to the end of the season they’d been on. It seemed like a decent place to stop for the night.

Once Peter had started, he didn’t seem to be able to stop. Tony just listened at first. He let Peter get to the end before he ever said anything more than the occasional “it’s ok” or “hey, keep breathing”. Though at some point he’d started tracing his fingers absentmindedly along Peter’s arm. It was like what he’d done in the car only this time it was through the sleeve. Peter was surprised that he didn’t mind the feeling.

“Yeah. At least, that’s kind of my theory at the moment. But I’m open to other ideas,” Peter shrugged again. Tony didn’t say anything and Peter took at it as a cue to keep explaining. “I think it just shut me down. Like… like, almost closer to paralysis than an actual loss of consciousness. Does that… does that make sense?”

Tony nodded slowly, eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah, I think so… So, you’re saying that you were awake but just not… aware.”

“Yeah. Because at other times when I felt more awake I wasn’t totally aware and I felt like I couldn’t make sense of anything. Like I was sort of removed from my surroundings. And I couldn’t make myself do anything so, like, I feel like it just took away my control. And now I’m remembering things that happened during the worst parts. I just don’t think I’d be remembering things if I’d actually been unconscious so that’s why I don’t think I was. And the stuff I’m remembering…” He trailed off, chewing on his lip. Tony nodded encouragingly, his thumb starting to gently massage rather than trace Peter’s arm. “I can’t really see any of it. It’s like I’m remembering the sounds more than anything and my brain is trying to put together a picture but it’s guesswork and it’s fuzzy and out of focus because I wasn’t really seeing anything during those moments. So the stuff that’s really clear is just the sounds and the feelings and -”

He’d been trying to listen patiently but he couldn’t not interrupt then. “Wait, you can feel it? How much are we talking here?”

Peter shrugged again. “I don’t really know, Tony. It’s not like I still feel it when I wake up so I don’t know. It feels… it feels really bad during the nightmares but I don’t know if I’m _actually_ feeling physical pain or just… remembering it and my mind is playing tricks on me.”

“But either way, Pete, that’s…” he sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. I wish you’d talked about this more before.”

Peter nodded, not meeting Tony’s eyes. Instead, he watched Tony’s thumb on his arm. “I just wasn’t sure what it was. I was trying to figure it out myself first. I didn’t want to say anything until I at least had an idea…” He looked up then. “Sorry I talked to Bucky before you. It wasn’t… planned. If that helps.”

“There’s nothing for it to help, kid. I don’t mind that. Especially if it made you feel better. I want you to feel like you can come to me but I’m not going to begrudge going to someone else too. Especially if I’m not there.”

Peter nodded again, giving Tony a slightly wobbly but sincere smile. “Thanks.”

Tony responded with a comforting smile and reached over to run his fingers through Peter’s hair on the right side of his head. “Are you going to tell me about what you’ve been remembering or just that you’re remembering things?”

He sighed softly and shrugged again. “It’s mostly nothing we didn’t know happened. Just… you know, invasive science experiments and stuff? Well, and… ok. You remember during that week after it happened when you made me let you look at everything and try and figure out exactly what they were doing?” He waited for Tony to nod and then continued. “There were places where they took… samples, I guess. And places where they were just… digging around; looking. Mostly it was stuff like that but there were things you didn’t understand, right?”

“Yeah,” Tony nodded, watching Peter closely. “There were a lot of places where it didn’t seem like it could’ve been giving them anything but they’d cut in anyway. Do you… are you remembering what that was about?”

Peter frowned, his lips shifting to one side a little. When he spoke again, his voice was small. “I think they just thought it was… entertaining.”

The fire that had been in Tony’s eyes when he stood over Osborn was back. He looked furious but only in his eyes. He was completely still and his expression was unreadable but Peter knew. Tony was livid at the thought.

“Osborn thought the not-water knocked me out. I _think_.” Peter tried to ignore how upset Tony looked because he knew if he thought about he’d feel guilty - even though he shouldn't - and then he’d stop talking but Tony wanted to know. He tried to ignore the tears welling in his eyes too and just kept talking. “He said I was still responsive and that they could tell I was still… feeling everything they were doing. And I don’t know because maybe what I’m remembering isn’t quite right and… I don’t know. But I don’t know how else they would - I must’ve - it’s just…” _Breathe._ “I guess I was probably screaming or something but I don’t know and I think they just kept doing things to make it worse. I don’t know.” He said it in a jumble of words so fast he wondered if Tony had understood him. He was actively avoiding eye contact though so he wasn’t sure how Tony was reacting.

Just as that thought had crossing his mind, Tony wrapped him up in a tight hug, murmuring something Peter couldn’t make out. He held him so tightly Peter figured it would’ve hurt back before the spider bite. Peter hugged him back as his fingers came and slid through the hair at the back of his head, holding his securely and making him feel safe.

Peter took a deep breath through his nose and was relieved to find that even after three days in hotels and stuffy conference rooms and offices Tony still smelled like Tony. And though he’d never say it, Peter loved that that no longer included the stench of alcohol. He wouldn’t say it because he’d hate for Tony to know how much it had bothered him and feel bad about it but he didn’t miss that at all. Now Tony smelt of metal and oil from his shop and of expensive fabric and cologne and what used to be liquor was now the smell of flour and sugar and eggs.

And that was when Peter realized.

His eyes widened and he pushed off of Tony, sitting up and meeting his confused eyes.

“It’s a coping mechanism.” He didn’t say it as a question but as a statement. It was completely obvious that Tony had no idea what he was talking about so he tried to explain. “The muffins. And the lasagna and the cookies and everything else you keep trying to make. It’s a _coping mechanism._ ”

Then, to Peter’s surprise, Tony laughed. He just laughed and hugged Peter again. Now it was Peter’s turn to be confused. “Oh, kid, you’re amazing. I will never understand how your mind works. Why are you even thinking about that?”

Peter laughed a little as well, pulling back again and shrugging slightly. “Just ‘cause… nothing. Just - you could’ve told me. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have been so annoying about it.”

“No, no, I want you to be honest. If you don’t like my muffins I’d rather you tell me that so I can try and make them better,” Tony smiled. “But we’re not talking about right now. We’re talking about you and your nightmares. So what’re we going to do about it?”

Peter sighed and leaned his side heavily against the back of the couch, letting his head drop down to rest on the top. “I don’t know what there is to do about it. My nightmares got better before so I guess we just hope they get better again.”

“There’s got to be some way to make it -”

“Tony, can I go out?” Peter asked suddenly.

The man blinked a few times, surprised by the unexpected question. Only a moment later he was looking disbelievingly at the teenager still curled up on the couch next to him. “Sorry, what?”

“Can I go out?” He lifted his head but stayed in the same position otherwise. “You know… like as Spider-Man? Just for couple hours, I swear!”

“Peter, _no_. It’s midnight, are you serious?” Tony scoffed.

“Oh, come on, it’s been almost a week and I was reading about some muggings and I think it’s the same group of guys and I’ve gotta make sure they don’t do something again ‘cause if I -”

“It’s _midnight_ , kid,” Tony stressed. “No, you aren’t going out. You can go tomorrow night and get an earlier start.”

Peter rolled his eyes so passionately that his entire head was included in the motion. “Tony, midnight is not that late. You just think it is because you’re old. It’s Summer so it’s not even that big a deal and -”

“Fine,” Tony sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fine. You can go out but just to try and get these muggers you’re talking about. You have _one_ _hour_ and if you get them in less than that you come home anyway. And you are not ignoring any phone calls or text messaged from me, agreed? Peter, slow down.”

The teenager had already leapt up from the couch and started to go get his suit. He stopped when Tony asked him but bounced a little like he couldn’t wait to get going.

“We are going to figure out an official bedtime for you tomorrow, ok? So if you want to go be Spider-Man you’re going to have to be home by then every night,” Tony told him firmly. He nodded back immediately. “It might be a little later for now but once school starts it’s going to be earlier and you won’t even be allowed to go out until you have all of your homework done. Understood?”

Peter nodded again. “Yes, I completely understand! Now can I please go? I’m sorry, it’s just it’s been a long time and I’m really -”

“Yeah, get outta here,” Tony chuckled, waving him off with a shake of his head.

Tony had a feeling this was going to be tiring.

-

Peter kicked his feet from where he sat on a fire escape.

He’d been waiting for nearly forty minutes already. FRIDAY had helped him figure out what the best place to wait would be based on where they’d been for the past week and where he’d have the best visual range.

So far, he hadn’t seen anything.

Really, Peter had been planning to stick to what Tony told him to do. Honestly. His plan had been to sit there for an hour or just until he saw something. Peter had never intended to go anywhere else. It just happened.

One second he’d been sitting there minding his business and the next… there was a massive object gliding by him.

_Wait, gliding? Shoot._

Sure enough, it was the Goblin again. It almost seemed like he hadn’t noticed Peter but the second Peter realized what he was seeing, the thing had stopped in midair and stared back at him, a slow grin growing on his face.

After that, he was gliding away and Peter really couldn’t help feeling sort of challenged. Ok, maybe very challenged. And you know, you just can’t blame a sixteen year old boy for not wanting to ignore a blatant challenge.

I mean, at least he called Tony to let him know first.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I said, Tony. I _know_ we had a deal but I really feel like this is a good reason to ignore that.” His words were almost shouted and out of breath as he swung from one web to the next.

“ _Peter, there is no good reason! Just let him go! He’s not doing anything, right? We’ll get him later. Come home._ ” He sounded tense. Worried, not mad.

“Tony, I’ve almost got him! Just trust me!”

The glider was faster now. Or maybe it had always been capable of faster speeds and Goblin simply hadn’t been utilizing it. And if Peter wasn’t mistaken, Goblin himself looked a little bigger.

“ _Peter,_ no. _I don’t want you getting hurt. We had an agreement._ ” Peter didn’t say anything but it was mostly because he was focused on trying to catch up to the Goblin and was having trouble thinking of complete sentences. “ _Where’s he heading? I’ll come help you._ ”

“I don’t know. I think…” He groaned in frustration. “I don’t know, just turn on the tracker in my suit.”

“ _Ok,_ ” Tony sighed. “ _I’m coming. Listen, if you can help it, avoid starting anything until I’m there._ ”

“I’ll try,” Peter promised, grunting as he flipped through the air.

He’d meant it. He really had. But at some point he lost sight of Goblin and suddenly, when he showed up again, he was _behind_ Spider-Man and knocking him out of the air.

Peter tumbled across a rooftop, smashing some wooden boxes before going flying off the edge of the building. He landed on top of a dumpster first, smashing the top in and feeling it in his back. Then he fell off of that and onto the concrete of a dark and gloomy alley.

His shoulder screamed in pain and Peter groaned.

_Well, great._

“Dad Phone,” Peter said breathlessly, forcing himself to at least sit up. The suit started to dial and Tony answered immediately.

“ _What happened?_ ”

Peter sighed and ducked his head. “He knocked me to the ground. I don’t know where he is but he’s probably not gone. Is the tracker working?”

“ _Of course the tracker’s working,_ ” Tony scoffed. “ _You’re in Hell’s Kitchen. Don’t move. Hide if you have to. I’m almost there. You hurt, kid?_ ”

“Yeah,” Peter grunted, seeing no point in trying to hide it. “Not too bad… I think.”

“ _I’ll decide that, ok? Hang on. I’m almost there. Call me if I haven’t shown up in two minutes._ ”

Two minutes felt like two hours but Peter knew it had been minutes because he’d stared at the screen of his cell phone the entire time.

Just as Peter saw Iron Man flying towards him, the Goblin showed up again. Peter pushed back against the wall, trying to stay unnoticeable. Normally, he’d help. But he wasn’t sure he could do much at the moment due to the pain in his shoulder so he decided to just wait there instead. Tony would be fine.

He’d been sitting there alone for a little while already. Tony had called him briefly a couple of times, just to let him know he was still trying to detain the Goblin and to make sure Peter hadn’t moved and was still ok. Apparently, Tony had managed to lead the Goblin farther out of the city, trying to make sure they wouldn’t cause much damage. He was putting up a decent fight and Tony didn’t want to crash into any buildings.

So Peter was alone.

His shoulder was throbbing and the more he tried to move his arm the more he thought there was something really wrong with it…

He felt a buzzing feeling at the back of his skull. There was something - or _someone_ \- there. But it didn’t feel like danger so what…?

“W-who’s there?” He asked hesitantly, unsure if his voice was even loud enough to be heard at the moment.

“You’re Spider-Man,” a rough voice said from above him. Peter looked up and saw a looming figure standing on the rooftop.

“Yeah. Who are you?”

The man had dropped down to the ground in front of Peter only a moment later. He stood almost rigidly as he looked down at Peter. Now that he was closer, he was a lot easier to see. His face was covered by a deep red mask. His strange body armor was the same color.

Before he answered - and who could really say if he even would’ve - Peter realized who it was.

“Daredevil. I’ve read about you.”

The man’s head cocked to the side and suddenly he crouched down in front of the teenager. “What are you doing here, Spider-Man? Last time I checked, Hell’s Kitchen wasn’t exactly your territory.”

“Not… usually. I was chasing someone.”

“The hybrid man Iron Man is fighting near the waterfront?” he questioned, not missing a beat.

Peter nodded.

“You’re hurt.” It was a statement more than a question. “You need help.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t. Iron Man’s coming back soon. I’m ok.”

The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen almost smirked at him then. “I think you need help _now_. You’re young.” He hummed thoughtfully. “Fourteen? Fifteen?”

Peter glared at him under the lenses of his mask. “What makes you think that?”

“Oh, a lot of things. But I’m right, yes?”

No answer. But they both knew that was an affirmative.

“I know someone who can fix your shoulder. Let me take you to her. It won’t take a long time since it’s not bad. Just a quick reset and you should be fine.”

Peter huffed in annoyance. “No! Just leave me alone. I’m telling you, Iron Man is going to help me when he gets back. So if you want to help, go make his job easier and give him a hand taking that thing down.”

Daredevil shook his head, frowning slightly. “You have some kind of healing factor, correct?”

“Yes?”

“Then you need to get your shoulder fixed. If you don’t, it’s going to heal wrong and you’ll still need to get it reset but it’ll hurt a lot more.”

Peter sighed and called Tony. He wasn’t at all surprised when he answered the second in started to ring. “How’s it going?”

“ _Not great. He got away. I saw where he went so I’m debating if I should go after him or head back your way. How are you holding up?_ ”

Peter glanced at Daredevil who was waiting patiently and barely moving. “Uh… I’m with Daredevil. He wants his friend to reset my shoulder ‘cause it’s maybe dislocated a little bit.”

He heard Tony sigh through the phone. “ _I’m not gonna ask. Don’t go anywhere, I’m on my way._ ”

The call ended before Peter could say anything. _Great, well that meant he was annoyed._ He looked at Daredevil again. “He said -”

“I heard. I guess that means we’re waiting here then.” The man shifted so he was sitting against the wall next to Peter, his legs sticking straight out with his ankles crossed casually.

Peter just stared at him.

“What, you think I’m going to leave an injured kid sitting here by himself?” Daredevil asked incredulously.

Peter scoffed. “Tony’s on his way right now. And I’m Spider-Man so… I’m probably fine by myself for a little bit if you wanna go stand broodingly on rooftops some more.”

Daredevil actually smiled a little at that but didn’t say anything else.

“Hey, can I ask you something? Since you’re still here?”

“I’m not guaranteeing an answer but go ahead.”

Peter smiled a little at the answer. “Have you seen this Goblin guy around before?”

“Only briefly. I’ve noticed him flying by a few times but he’s never done anything. I heard about the two of you fighting though,” he told Peter.

The teenager nodded and was just about to say something else when Tony appeared, landing in front of them and kneeling by Peter. “Uh, hey there, Tony,” Peter said sheepishly.

“Shut up,” Tony muttered, proceeding to lift Peter’s arm and talk to FRIDAY what was wrong with and what to do. “Daredevil was right. We’re going to have reset it. You ok if I do it right now, kid?”

Peter’s eyes widened under his mask but he nodded anyway. “Um, yeah, I guess so…”

“I have a friend who’s a nurse,” Daredevil cut in. “She’s completely trustworthy. I could get her here in -”

“No. Thank you, but no,” Tony said firmly. “We can manage. Just help me out a little, ok?”

“What do you need me to do?”

Tony sighed and looked down at Peter. “Are you sure you can let me do this?” He wished he could see his face but they weren’t taking off his mask in front of Daredevil. Tony thought they could trust him but he wasn’t completely sure and certainly wasn’t willing to find out like that.

Peter nodded shakily. “Yeah, I - I think so. What are you… I mean, how are you going to do it exactly? ‘Cause I’ve never…” He trailed off and shook his head slightly.

“That’s a good question,” Daredevil spoke up, turning his head toward Tony. “What method are you going to use? Have you done this before?”

Tony shook his head tersely. “Hippocratic. It’s the only thing I’ve done before.”

Peter looked between the two of them. “Wait, doesn’t that hurt?”

Tony gave Peter a deadpan stare. “Because it doesn’t hurt already?”

Daredevil put a hand on Peter’s good shoulder. “You’re going to have to lie down.”

Deciding to just ignore the vigilante, Peter stared hard at Tony, hoping that was somehow getting through even with the mask hiding his face. “Maybe just leave me here and you can go try and find Goblin because -”

“Lie down. We’ll deal with him later,” Tony told him as his suit opened up around him. “We’ll get Goblin. I’ve got FRIDAY on it, ok? You said you were ok to do this, remember?”

That was true. Actually, he’d said it twice. But now that Tony and Daredevil were physically making him straighten out on the cold and grimy concrete… he was regretting saying that. And, you know, _not_ doing what Tony said. And maybe even asking to leave the tower in the first place. _Geez_ , why was he so stupid?

“Hold down his other side,” Tony was saying to Daredevil as he straightened Peter’s arm out toward him. “Ok, kid, just hang on. This should be pretty quick. Just talk about something and keep your mind off what I’m doing. Right, Double D?”

Daredevil just grunted, his hold on Peter’s other shoulder firm but not painful.

Tony pulled off his shoe and placed his foot under Peter’s arm. He was gripping Peter’s gloved hand with one of his one, holding onto his elbow with the other.

“Ok, Tony, can we just wait - oh, _gosh_ , Dad! That hurts!”

Tony actually had the nerve to chuckle a little at that. Peter groaned and closed his eyes. He had to admit that the worst of the pain hadn’t really lasted past the actual resetting action. And yes, obviously Tony and Daredevil were right that it was better to get it over with but _man_ that had been painful.

And wait, did he…?

When Peter opened his eyes he saw Tony suppressing a grin while he put his suit back on and Daredevil simply watching them with his tilted curiously to the side. _Great_.

Tony pulled Peter into a sitting position and looked him over quickly. “Alright, well, you’re not going to be swinging anywhere tonight.”

“Then how -”

“Daredevil, thanks for the help,” Tony said, turning to the other man and ignoring Peter. Ok, well, he guessed he sort of deserved that. “Good thing you were in the area.”

Daredevil nodded once. “I wish I could’ve done more. Let me know the next time you need an extra pair of hands when you’re in the area. Or not, actually. I’d be willing to take a short trip,” he smirked and stood up.

Tony grabbed Peter’s hands and pulled him to his feet as he stood up himself. Keeping an arm around Peter to make sure he didn’t fall over or walk away or something, he faced Daredevil again. “Contact me if you see or hear anything about the Goblin again.”

“Or if you need _our_ help with something,” Peter muttered, massaging his shoulder.

“Yeah, that too,” Tony conceded. He took Peter’s hands again and moved the teenager behind him, holding Peter’s hands over his shoulders.

“What -”

“ _Shh_ ,” Tony directed over his shoulder. Peter sighed and pressed his forehead to the cold metal of the back of Tony’s helmet. He turned back to Daredevil again, still holding Peter’s arms far enough over his shoulders that the kid had to stand on his tiptoes. “Well, I’m getting him out of here now. Thanks again for your help but, uh… can we agree not to mention what happened here to anyone if we can help it?”

Daredevil nodded once, gave them some kind of salute, and was gone a moment later.

All three of them knew exactly what Tony had meant. _Don’t tell anyone what you heard Spider-Man call me._

Tony readjusted Peter on his back and then instructed him to stick to the Iron Man suit so that Tony wouldn’t have to worry about him falling off while he flew back to the tower. Peter sighed but did as he’d been told.

Riding on Iron Man’s back was not Peter’s ideal mode of transportation, really. Why would it be? But it was fast, he’d give it that.

“You know you’re going to have to make up for all this, right, kid?” Tony asked as they entered the tower.

Peter pulled off his mask with a huff and went to the kitchen sink to splash some water over his face. “Yeah, I know. What am I, grounded?”

Tony hummed and opened the fridge. “I’ll let you know in the morning. How’s your arm?”

“Could be worse,” Peter answered with a shrug, turning around and leaning against the counter as he watched Tony pour himself a glass of orange juice. “Thanks for helping. You know, with everything. Sorry I was stupid and didn’t listen or keep my word. Sorry I got hurt and the Goblin got away again. Sorry I called you ‘Dad’ in front of Daredevil. What was he even doing there, by the way? That was weird.”

“He lives there. Make trouble in the Kitchen, he’ll be there.” Tony downed his juice and held his cup out to Peter. “Here, rinse this.”

Peter only raised an eyebrow at him.

“Really? You’re gonna pull all the crap you pulled tonight and refuse to rinse out my glass?”

Peter rolled his eyes and took the cup from Tony, rinsing it and putting it in the dishwasher. “You’re just going to make me clean up after you? Is that my punishment? How long is that going for?”

“No, that’s not your punishment. I told you,” Tony sighed. “I’ll let you know in the morning. Now go to bed. And stop being sorry - even if you totally should be about _some_ of that. Let me know if your arm is giving you trouble or something. I’ll have FRIDAY keep an eye on that.”

Peter just nodded and went to his room.

So maybe this hadn’t been Spider-Man’s best night…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked writing this chapter... I hope you liked reading it!
> 
> So, Matt isn't going to be a huge character in this. He'll pop a couple more times and not for a while. I don't know yet if we'll see any more Defenders but if we do I think they'll be in later stories. Since Matt isn't in this much, we didn't really talk about his character very much so there's not much to go into. Hopefully you enjoyed having him pop in. :)


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

“Wake up, kid!” Tony threw the door to Peter’s room open, ordering FRIDAY to open his blinds completely, allowing all the light of the morning sky to shine directly onto Peter’s face.

Peter groaned and pulled his covers up over his face, which of course only lasted a second before Tony was yanking the comforter from the teenager’s body. “Tony,  _what_?”

“I said I’d tell you in the morning, remember?”

His face screwed up in confusion. “ _Tell me_ … oh my  _gosh_ , are you serious?” He rubbed his hands over his eyes. “You had to wake me up? You really couldn’t have waited a little while longer?”

“Uh, you really couldn’t have come home after an hour?” Tony asked sarcastically, pulling Peter up to a sitting position. “Get some clothes one. I made muffins and I’m feeling nice so you can eat before you get started.”

After clapping a hand on Peter’s uninjured shoulder, he turned and strolled out of the room.

“Hey, wait, get started with what?” Peter called after the man, rolling his eyes when he received no answer.

When he came out to the kitchen, Peter was taken aback. There was really no other way to put it. When Tony had said he’d made muffins… Peter did not expect to see that many.

And suddenly Peter was feeling a whole lot guiltier about the night before.

“There you are,” Tony smiled at him. “I made a lot of kinds and most of them turned out ok so you can pick whatever you want. Maybe try some different kinds? Whatever you want.”

Peter nodded and came to look over all the choices. Most of them were flavors and kinds he couldn’t discern just by looking at them but he could see various berries, chocolate chip, and what looked like poppyseed. “Um, did you… maybe want to tell me what you’re making me do?” Peter asked quietly, looking up at Tony and chewing on the inside of his cheek.

Tony nodded slowly, considering. “I could. Let’s eat first.” He nodded toward the table and took a few muffins and a glass of juice with him as he went to take a seat. Peter followed him with a chocolate chip muffin. “What’s wrong? Why do you look so miserable? You haven’t even tried a muffin yet so don’t judge them.”

“I’m not,” Peter said, almost smiling.

“Ok, then what’s bothering you?” Tony asked again, taking a large bite of a poppyseed muffin. “Is punishment really that hard for you to accept?”

Peter shook his head. “No. Though I still don’t know what I have to do so…” He shrugged.

Tony smirked. “Don’t worry, just a little cleaning. Not a big deal. So, what’s wrong if it isn’t that or my muffins?”

“Um… I’m just really sorry.” Peter picked at the paper around his muffin, recalling the time before when Tony didn’t even see a reason to put the muffins in their little cups. “I promise I meant it when I agreed to come back in an hour. I wasn’t… I wasn’t lying to you or something.”

“I never said you were,” Tony told him confusedly, balling up his paper and moving to a blueberry one next.

Peter nodded and looked up at him. “I know. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t thinking that… and I  _really_  am sorry.”

“Well, I know  _that_ ,” Tony scoffed a little. “I’d have to be stupid to have been living with you for four months and not know that you’re sorry. Of course you’re sorry. And -  _again_ \- you could be for some of it. But I’m not - look, kid, I’m not exactly mad at you, ok?”

Peter frowned at him. “Then… what are you?”

“I’m… well, I’m disappointed. Because you went against what we agreed. You went against what I told you to do and what you said ‘ok’ to. So, yeah, I’m a little disappointed. And I  _was_  kinda mad but not so much now, ok? I’m not. But you’ve still got to make up for it somehow, right? So… you’re going to clean a car.”

“I’m… going to do what now?”

“You’re going to eat that muffin,” Tony said, pointing down at the still uneaten food. “And maybe a couple more. Then you’re going to stay in the garage until you have finished cleaning one of my sports cars. I’ll let you pick which one, deal?”

Peter stared blankly at the man, one eyebrow slightly raised.

“Eat,” Tony prodded, pointing at the muffin again.

Nodding absently, Peter turned his attention to the muffin. His eyes widened when he took a bite. “Hey, that’s actually kind of good!”

Tony grinned at him excitedly. “Is it?”

“Yeah, it actually is,” Peter answered, grinning back. “Like, I’d actually eat another by choice.”

“Sooner or later we’ll get up from ‘actually kind of good’ to ‘totally the most amazing muffins to exist’.”

Even though he was still feeling a little dejected, Peter couldn’t help laughing at that one.

-

Was Peter still laughing while he scrubbed Tony’s orange Audi R8? No, he was not.

It was one of the ones Tony drove the most so Peter had just gone for that. He had also never actually had to clean a car before so he sure hoped he didn’t mess it up… that thought made him regret picking on Tony’s favorite cars to clean up. What if he scrubbed off all the paint? Could he do that? Peter had no idea.

And another thing he had no idea about? Why Tony thought this was a reasonable punishment to give a kid…

What in the world?

“The boss has asked me to deliver a message,” FRIDAY spoke up suddenly, making Peter jump a little, spilling some sudsy water on his shoes.

“Ok, what’s up?”

“He’s going out in one of his suits and would like you to be sure to vacuum the inside of the car as well. He expects you to be at least mostly done upon his return.”

“And when will  _that_  be?” Peter asked, hands on his hips and glaring at nothing.

“No idea,” the AI responded in a tone Peter would almost call teasing. “He didn’t say. Better get back to work now if you want to be done when he returns.”

Peter rolled his narrowed eyes and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through his short list of contacts and found the person he was looking for.

**Hey, Ned. Are you busy?**

There was no response even after Peter stared at his phone for three minutes straight. He shrugged and shoved the phone back into his pocket, getting back to work while he waited for an answer from his friend.

He had just started drying a window when he heard his phone alerting him of a new message. Hoping to avoid odd streaks and spots, he finished the window before he looked at his phone.

**Nope. Just video games. You?**

Peter typed a quick response and put the phone back in his back pocket again.

**Tony’s making me clean a car for being stupid last night. Thought we could talk or something while I do it. I’m super bored.**

His phone started ringing a moment later. Peter had to dry his palms on his jeans before answering.

“ _Which car?_ ” Ned questioned the second the call had been answered.

Peter laughed and told him. “I’m actually really surprised about how long this is taking. Have you ever washed a car?”

“ _Dude, no, are you kidding? Why would I have?_ ”

“I don’t know,” Peter chuckled.

“ _My parents don’t even have a car. So whose car would I have been washing?_ ”

Peter grunted as he stretched across the hood to get a spot he’d missed. “No clue.”

“ _Oh, so when am I coming over again?_ ”

Laughing through a heavy sigh, Peter slid off the hood and landed on his feet with a little bounce. “No clue,” he said again. “When are you available?”

“ _Literally whenever you say,_ ” Ned chuckled. “ _Mary Jane wants to have a Pride and Prejudice day because she says - and I quote - ‘it’s been too long since we did that’, which is obviously stupid because we did that with her in October._ ”

“Well, yeah… but she likes it. She sat through our Alien marathon in February,” Peter brought up. He’d set his phone down on a little tv table he’d brought with him to keep some muffins on while he worked. The call was on speaker mode so he could work without trying not to get his phone wet. Imagine how that would go down…  _well, Tony, I did what you said but I also ruined my new phone so…_  Yeah, Peter was  _not_  going there.

“ _Come on,_ ” Ned scoffed. “ _MJ loves those movies just as much as we do. Ok, maybe not just as much but she likes them too,_ ” he amended.

“Ok, so it’s different. But still, we always pick stuff like that. We can give her an Austen day every now and again, right?”

Ned was laughing then and Peter had no idea why. “ _Dude, you are so crushing on her, aren’t you?_ ”

“What?” Peter choked, completely stopping what he was doing. “Why? Because I want to be nice and let her pick a marathon?”

“ _Yeah, that and, like, everything else. Come on, admit it,_ ” he continued to laugh. Peter was glad they were just talking on the phone because his face was so red he knew Ned would be laughing even harder if they were talking in person. “ _You so like Mary Jane. I thought you liked Liz Allen? What happened with that?_ ”

“Liz… no! Nothing happened!” Peter insisted emphatically. “I guess I sorta liked her. I just… I haven’t thought about that in a while. And I don’t - I don’t  _like_  Mary Jane, Ned. And I sure as heck did not call you to talk about this!”

“ _Technically, I called you_ ,” Ned muttered. Peter could practically hear his smirk. “ _And you know that not wanting to talk about this means that there’s definitely something to not talk about, right?_ ”

“You know what I mean,” Peter deadpanned, going back to cleaning the car. “And I’m not talking about this anymore.”

“ _‘Cause I’m right?_ ” Ned snorted. “ _You basically just told me._ ”

Peter glared viciously at the phone. “So, you got that new Lego set you wanted, right?” He asked pointedly, refusing to stick with  _that_  subject any longer.

Ned was snickering again but allowed the conversation to move on, which Peter was grateful for. “ _Yeah, I did. Haven’t started building it yet though. I thought we could do it together._ ”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Peter smiled, now sitting cross legged on the ground and scrubbing the tires dry. “I can ask Tony if you can come over tomorrow if - hang on.”

His phone had made a little ‘ping’ sound, telling him someone had texted him. He grabbed the phone and looked at the notification. Harry Osborn.

They’d texted a couple of times and very briefly but Harry was terrible about remembering to text back and Tony had made it pretty clear how uncomfortable he was with the whole thing so Peter had tried not to text Harry unless it was a response.

**What school do you go to again?**

_Huh_. Kind of a weird question but Peter answered him anyway. Just as Peter had expected, Harry didn’t text back despite getting a response mere seconds after sending his question.  _Whatever_.

“Sorry, I got a text,” Peter said, putting the phone back on the table and going back to the car.

“ _No problem, man,_ ” Ned responded cheerily. That was one of the things Peter liked about Ned. He was just nice, like, almost all the time. And even if he apparently thought it was necessary to tease Peter about a crush he did  _not_  have, he was perfectly willing to move straight into a conversation about Legos instead. “ _Tomorrow works for me. Just let me know what he says._ ”

“Hey, I’ve probably got to just hang up now. Tony wants me to vacuum the inside of the car and I won’t be able to hear you so we can just talk later, ok?”

“ _Sure. Have fun,_ ” Ned said, nearly giggling.

Peter rolled his eyes but smiles. “Uh-huh. I’ll call you when I talk to Tony. Bye.”

He finished cleaning the car while he had FRIDAY blast some of his favorite alternative bands. Hey, Tony wasn’t home and if he had to clean he might as well make it somewhat enjoyable.

He knew Tony was home when the music suddenly changed to Master of Puppets by Metallica and  _wow_  that was loud! Peter groaned, letting his head drop forward with a grin on his face. Since he’d been trying to get the vacuum in all the little hard to get to areas, he was on his knees by the car and leaning in through the door, reaching at odd angles to be sure to get everything.

There were a lot of crumbs under the passenger seat and Peter knew that was his own fault. Whoops.

“Hey, kid, you done yet?” Tony called from the doorway. He had to really raise his voice to be heard over the music.

“Yeah!” Peter shouted back, switching off the vacuum and climbing out of the car. “FRIDAY, turn it down!”

“Do no such thing,” Tony countered, smirking at Peter as he walked over to him. “Had a fun morning?”

“Absolutely,” Peter deadpanned.

“Glad to hear it,” Tony grinned then looked down at the car, putting his hands on his hips. “Huh. Well, that’s not too bad.”

“Really?” Peter asked, eyebrows raised happily.

“Yeah, sure,” Tony put an arm around the teenager’s shoulders and smiled down at him. “I’ll just have someone else clean it for real to get rid of all the streaks.”

Peter deflated and rolled his eyes. “You know I’ve never done this before right? And you didn’t exactly give me any clear instructions.”

“I know that. It’s fine! You did what I said and you clearly  _tried_. You’ll do better next time,” he winked.

“‘ _Next_ time’?”

“Well, obviously,” Tony scoffed. He placed a hand on both of Peter’s shoulders, turning him that they were facing each other completely. “Tell me something. Did cleaning a car make you want to be stupid again?”

“No?”

“Exactly! That means it’s effective. So yeah. ‘Next time’.”

Peter rolled his eyes again but smiled anyway, shrugging Tony’s hands off his shoulders. “Can we go eat some lunch or something?”

Tony nodded, ruffling Peter’s hair and turning towards the door. Peter stopped for a second on their way out when he heard his phone in his pocket again. He pulled it out and saw another text from Harry.

**Is it a good school?**

Weird. He really didn’t usually text back so soon.

**Yeah, it is. Why?**

No response. Peter shrugged and put his phone back into his pocket, forgetting about the text and following Tony to get food.

-

“So, Peter,” Tony started as they made their way into the kitchen. Peter was going straight for the couch while Tony was headed for some more muffins. He figured they’d have to eat a lot to excuse making more in the morning.

“Yeah?” Peter sighed tiredly as he flopped into the couch cushions.

“Now that you’ve gotten a little more familiar with one of the cars… what do you say we start lessons?”

Peter perked up a little at that. “Driving lessons?”

“No, pottery lessons.  _Yes_ , driving lessons! Do you want to start? Traffic’s not too bad now. We’ll drive a little farther out and then I’ll let you get behind the wheel for a little while.”

“Right now?”

Tony raised an eyebrow as he finished eating another muffin. “Uh, yes?”

“Well… ok. How do you do it?”

“Hold your horses, kid,” Tony grinned, rubbing his hands together over the sink to get rid of the crumbs. “I’ll tell you when we start driving.”

Peter made himself a quick sandwich - complaining to Tony that though he could make do with swiss they really needed to get more cheddar - to eat while Tony drove. They took to car Peter had just cleaned so, remembering the crumbs he’d found, he made extra certain to eat over a paper bag.

“Hey, who taught you to drive?” Peter asked, trying to catch a piece of lettuce when it fell as he took a bite of his sandwich. He was practically bouncing in anticipation as e waited for Tony to decide it was a good place to pull over and let Peter take over.

“Well…” Tony drew the words out, tilting his head to the side. “I guess I was sort of self taught.”

“You didn’t pass a driving test?” Peter exclaimed, eyes widened and falling bits of sandwich ignored.

“I did  _not_  say that,” Tony laughed, pointing a finger at Peter. “I passed. I  _do_  have an actual license. I mean, ok, it took my a while. A few tries, I mean. Because I never had a lesson! My dad didn’t exactly think of that stuff, you know?”

Peter nodded slowly. “I don’t… I don’t think you’re supposed to be allowed to teach yourself though. Was that, like… was that an ok thing to do in the 60s or whatever?”

Tony glared at Peter, who was smirking playfully. “It wasn’t even intentional. I just drove a few times when I was messing around with friends or whatever. I just figured it out as I went, you know? Then one day I thought, “I want a license” and I took the test. Then I kept trying until I passed.” He was silent for a moment before mumbling, “60s. Geez, I thought you knew about numbers and stuff.”

The teenager just laughed in response. He finished his sandwich and then spent his time trying to make sure he found every fallen bit and got it back in the bag. Noticing the feeling of someone watching him, he looked over at Tony and saw him side-eying him.

“What?”

“It doesn’t really matter how clean you keep the car, you know,” Tony informed him, saying it as if he were sharing a secret. “I’ll always have another one for you to clean. Oh, hey, here’s good.”

He pulled the car over suddenly, surprising Peter enough to make him grip the handle of the door with a sharp gasp. As soon as the car had stopped, Tony climbed out and came around to Peter’s side, grabbing his upper arm and pulling lightly to get him out.

“Uh, ok, what do I do?” Peter asked as soon as they were both seated with the doors shut.

Tony raised an eyebrow expectantly. “Well, first you’re gonna want to buckle your seatbelt.”

“Oh! Right, right, right,” Peter nodded, fumbling with the buckle. He nodded once and stared at all the buttons and knobs cluelessly.

“Now before we go anywhere,” Tony started, holding a hand out as if to encourage Peter to wait. “What do you already know? Identify everything you can.”

Peter nodded again and his expression morphed into one of total concentration. “Well… this is the wheel. Those of the pedals and… I don’t know which one’s which. Uh, the - the gear...shift? Um…” He trailed off, still staring almost unblinkingly at everything.

“It’s ok if that’s all you -”

“No!” Peter cut him off, holding up his pointer finger. “No, I know more. That’s… that tells you how fast you’re - oh, speedometer! And the… gas thing. And this is the radio and that’s the air and I know how to use those so you don’t have to teach me that part. This is for… the windshield wipers? Um... “ His eyes darted around, looking for something else he knew. Then he smiled and pointed at his door. “There’s the lock and the window buttons.”

Tony sighed a little but smiled at him. “Ok. Well, let me try and explain some of this stuff first. You know a lot of the basics but you need to know more and I’m willing to bet you don’t know how most of it actually works.”

It was fairly evident that Tony had never given a driving lesson by how rapidly he explained everything to Peter. Honestly, they were just lucky that Peter had a decent memory and was paying attention. Even then, it took a little while to make sure he knew everything.

Tony was pretty confident and hardly concerned at all when he told Peter to pull out into the road. That changed fairly quickly, however, when he realized that telling someone what everything did and how to drive… didn’t make them good at it.

Peter had obviously never driven a car before so it shouldn’t been that much a surprise when he almost hit the car next to them. It also shouldn’t have been surprise that he drove at inconsistent speeds and couldn’t keep the vehicle straight.

Both of them were glad that Tony had taken them so far out of the city to a street with hardly any other cars. If nothing else, it lowered the chances of hitting someone. It did not, however, lower the chances of hitting something other than a car or person.

“Peter! Turn, turn! You’re in the turn lane so you have to turn!” Tony had completely tensed up and was apparently trying to brace himself. He wished he’d brought a suit…

Peter nodded and tried to turn the car. He ended up swerving too much and wound up on the wrong side of the street. He got back to the right though and didn’t see a reason for Tony to yell as loudly as he had. After all, there hadn’t been any approaching cars and he’d recovered pretty fast so what was the problem? He’d just do better next time.

“Stop! Red light!” Tony shouted, whacking Peter’s arm.

The car screeched to a halt, just in time.

“You should really calm down,” Peter stated too calmly for Tony’s liking. “Yelling isn’t going to make it better and I’m just doing what you said so -”

“It’s green,” Tony told him through gritted teeth. “Slowly, please. Go slowly.”

Peter snorted but tried his best to keep the speed under control. Really, considering he’d never driven before, Peter felt pretty good about it. He’d started out pretty rough but he was getting the hang of -”

“Get ready to turn,” Tony told him.

Peter only heard turn.

“No, don’t hit the trashcan!” Tony instinctively threw an arm over Peter’s front as the car bumped over the curb.

“It’s fine!” Peter said, trying not to grin.  _That_  wouldn’t make Tony feel any better.

Tony glared at Peter and huffed in annoyance. “Tell that to my heart. It’s beating so fast I think it’s going to fly out of my chest!”

“You’re having heart problems? Do we need to get you to a doctor because -”

“Eyes on the road,” Tony snapped, bracing himself in his seat again. There was something brown in front of them and Tony watched it until they’d gone over the top of it. “Did you just run over a squirrel?”

“No!” Peter laughed. “It was a paper bag.”

“Ok,” Tony breathed, eyes wide. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Let’s pull over and we can head home.”

Peter turned his head to look at Tony. “What? No!”

“Peter!” Tony exclaimed, his tone scolding. “Watch the road, please!”

He rolled his eyes but as he was told. The car swerved a little again and Peter flinched, trying to get it back on a straight path. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Ok, so what if I drive it back to the tower? No, let me finish!”

Tony grunted unhappily but didn’t say anything like he’d been trying to a moment before.

“I’m never going to learn if you don’t let me keep trying.” Peter grimaced when the car tires screeched as he reached a red light. “If you let me drive all the way back home then I promise not to ask for another lesson for at least a couple days. Although, I’d like to point out that I didn’t suggest this! You did.”

“Uh, Peter, I don’t really want to die today so if you could just pull over -”

“Oh, it’s green!”

“Peter, pull the car over right now!” Tony demanded.

Peter bit back an amused grin but nodded. “Ok, ok. I’m just gonna pull in at that craft store.”

“We don’t need to go to a craft store,” Tony argued, his tone clipped.

“Yeah, but I need to pull over and that seemed like a good place,” Peter explained calmly as he slowed the car down suddenly so he could get ready to turn. The car behind them swerved to avoid hitting them after the drastic change in speeds and all color drained from Tony’s face. Peter grimaced. “Sorry.”

Tony just sighed loudly and impatiently, his eye starting to twitch as Peter made his shaky attempt to enter the small parking lot. Luckily, it was nearly empty and the only other cars were at the other side. Peter wanted to keep trying to park straight but Tony made him stop the car as soon as they were at least sort of in the lines.

As soon as the car was in park, Tony threw the door open and all but tumbled out.

Peter was honestly a little ashamed of how hard he had to fight  _not_  to laugh at the poor man as he leaned forward with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

“You, uh… you ok out there?” Peter called, pressing a fist to his mouth in an attempt to keep from grinning as he spoke, which he knew Tony would be able to hear in his voice. And he would not appreciate it.

“Oh, I’m fine!” Tony called back, voice dripping with sarcasm. “I just saw my life flash before my eyes is all. You know, nothing too bad or unusual!”

“Oh my gosh, it was not that bad!” Peter protested. “I think I did pretty good for a first try!”

“Then your idea of ‘good’ is heartbreaking,” Tony snapped, coughing a little.

Peter frowned and craned his neck to try and get a better look at Tony, who was bent over to far he couldn’t see his head. “Are you throwing up?”

“No!” Tony shouted defensively. “But I might.”

“Ok, then you probably shouldn’t drive…” Peter told him hesitantly. “Look, I will be so careful! I promise. I will drive like a grandma. A very careful grandma.”

Tony straightened up with some effort and glared at Peter through the windshield. “I am only agreeing to this because my legs are so shaky I might not be able to use the pedals,” he informed the teenager bitterly and climbed back into the car. “Now, listen. You are not going to do  _anything_  I haven’t specifically told you to do, understood? And traffic’s going to be worse the closer we get to the tower so you have to be completely focused on the road and what I’m telling you. Got it?”

Peter nodded, actively telling himself not to smile. Poker face was better in this situation.

“Oh, and another thing?” Tony raised an eyebrow at his as he pulled his seat belt over his shoulder.

Peter nodded again, waiting to hear what he had to say.

“You are not driving again until you’re at least… twenty-five.”

“I can’t learn if you won’t teach me!” Peter protested earnestly, earning a silencing glare.

“Maybe not twenty-five,” Tony amended. “But we are not doing this again any time soon. Ok, pull out of the spot  _very slowly_.” He dragged the last couple words out to drive the point home and Peter rolled his eyes with a small smile as he complied.

After that, he did in fact proceed to drive home “like a very careful grandma”. Somehow, Tony still managed to act like someone was sawing his legs off with a plastic picnic knife.

Ok, perhaps that was an exaggeration but it was still exactly the way Peter described the event to Happy as soon as they got home. Ignoring Peter and Happy’s laughter, Tony went to stress bake some cinnamon cookies no one would eat afterwards since he spilled a whole canister of the spice into his dough and apparently figured he’d keep going.

It was a pretty interesting day, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a lot of fun to write! XD


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

“Ok, so all he said was ‘something fun and maybe happy’,” Peter said, reminding himself more than Ned, who had agreed to go with him to the movie rental store after getting pizza.

Tony had suggested they have a movie night and had given Peter the task of choosing the movie after he’d brought up how much fun he always used to have going to the rental store and picking out a movie to watch with some microwave popcorn. Sure, it was easier to just stream movies now and having a rental store was completely unnecessary but there was something fun and nostalgic about it so the little store down the road from Peter’s old apartment still hadn’t closed.

“Well, everyone’s idea of a fun movie is super different,” Ned pointed out thoughtfully. They were standing beside each other in front of the window, both with their hands in their pockets as they stared at the little display. “What kind of stuff does he consider fun?”

Peter shrugged. “I don’t know. Mostly we watch sci-fi but I think he’s looking for something we won’t analyze the whole night.”

“Hmm. So not Stargate?”

“Not Stargate,” Peter agreed. He nodded his head toward the door and went inside the store, figuring they could just see what was in before they picked something. After all, what if it wasn’t even there?

“Oh, hey there, nerds!” The cashier grinned when they came in the door. He was just out of college but had been working there since he was only a little older than Peter and Ned were. He liked them, having watched them and their taste in movies grow through the past few years. They liked him too because he gave them discounts. “Haven’t seen you guys here in a minute.”

“First of all,” Ned began with joking offense. “You are just as much a nerd. And second, that’s Peter’s fault since he’s never around anymore.”

Peter smacked his friend’s shoulder and rolled his eyes as he walked farther into the store. “Whatever, Ned. We’re here now!”

“Yeah, but I don’t even get to watch whatever you get with you! We have to have a movie day before school starts.”

Peter nodded in agreement and looked over at the skinny cashier. “Hey, Dennis, what do you have that’s fun?”

“Uh, define ‘fun’, please,” Dennis said dryly and adjusted the baseball cap on his head.

Ned gave Peter a pointed look at that.

“Ok, ok,” Peter said, rolling his eyes. “Um… something with no stress or heavy amounts of emotion. And it has to be funny and genuinely good - not just a crappy b-movie that makes you laugh because it’s a crappy b-movie - and if it had a really happy ending I wouldn’t complain. Oh, and maybe not sci-fi. I’m not looking for something to think about all night.”

“Well… you could check the animated section. We have some Disney stuff in right now,” Dennis told him. Peter nodded and went to look while Ned talked to Dennis about which Star Trek was the best, which was their go-to topic of conversation since neither of them had converted the other to their way of thinking yet.

Peter wasn’t really sure how Tony felt about Disney movies. Some adults still liked them while others felt that they were just for kids. But… Tony said Peter had to pick so he figured it would just have to be ok.

They didn’t really have that many and they were mostly only the sorry excuses for sequels from the 2000s, which he didn’t even want to consider renting.

The best option was Finding Nemo, which Peter remembered seeing as a kid but couldn’t recall that much about. But he remembered liking it so… maybe that.

He picked it up went to pay for it, not minding at all when Dennis said he could have it free for the first twenty-four hours so long as he and Ned agreed to stop being strangers at the store. That was not a bad deal at all.

After that, he and Ned bought milkshakes and then parted ways.

So that was how Peter and Tony ended up watching Finding Nemo that night.

As it turned out, Tony had not seen it but didn’t mind watching a Disney movie at all. And things had really started out pretty well.

But then a barracuda ate Marlin’s wife and kids and everything just went downhill from there.

-

“Why would you make me watch that?” Tony demanded, eyes wide with disbelief.

Peter only grimaced and shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry.”

“I specifically said I wanted to watch something fun and you brought home a tearjerker. You know, kid, you are really treading on thin ice here. All within a few days, you went and stayed out late and got yourself hurt, nearly killed me during a driving lesson, and now this. I can’t help feeling like you’re out to get me.”

“Oh my gosh,” Peter laughed softly, shaking his head. He started to get up so he could go take the movie out of the player but realized that Tony was still holding onto his arm. He’d first reached for it pretty early on in the movie. As soon as he noticed how small and damaged Nemo’s ‘lucky fin’ was, he’d held onto Peter’s left forearm pretty lightly. It was barely noticeable and didn’t bother Peter at all. After that, any time Tony was worried about the characters (particularly Nemo) and feeling especially emotional, he’d held Peter’s arm a little closer to him.

Apparently, Tony just hadn’t let it go and Peter hadn’t realized.

Now that he knew, he stayed where he was and settled back into the couch.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I didn’t remember very much of it and… yeah, that was pretty hard to watch, huh?”

“Just a little,” Tony answered, his voice sounding somewhat choked. Peter had noticed him crying a few times throughout the movie. There had been a lot of commentary too, which was something that had only partially surprised Peter.

With the kinds of things they normally watched, both Tony and Peter would often geek out over things or declare them unbelievable and scientifically improbable. Sometimes they’d pause it to debate something.

This was maybe a little different…

Tony had gotten extremely invested and felt compelled to cheer on Marlin, scold him for messing up with Nemo, and of course, comfort Nemo while he waited for his dad to find him.

Peter had to admit, he felt a little guilty about picking this movie.

Tony let go of his arm and wrapped his whole upper body up in a hug instead. “I’ll pick the movie next time. I really need something that’s just funny. That one hit a little close to home, you know?”

Peter just nodded. He’d gotten a little emotional himself.

“You know I’ll always do anything to find you, right?” Tony asked, hugging Peter tighter, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Yeah,” Peter told him immediately. “It’s just a movie though, ok? And I’m not gonna touch a boat and get kidnapped by dentists…”

“Well, you’ve tried to stop a bank robbery and been kidnapped by scientists and I had to find you, so… you can understand the mental connection.”

Peter sighed and hugged Tony back, closing his eyes and listening to the jazz music playing through the credits. Yeah, maybe no more Disney movies for a while…

-

“You know, the good part is that I got to rent it for free so it’s not like you even had to pay for all that suffering,” Peter brought up as he and Tony walked into the rental store the next day. They were on their way to get lunch and had decided to just drop the film off on their way.

“How much would it’ve even cost?” Tony scoffed, smirking at peter. “Like, a dollar fifty or something?”

“Two fifty,” Peter corrected, stepping into the back of the line. There were only a few people in front of them but the one at the register was a regular who always had a lot of questions and complaints so he was prepared to be there a while.

“Right, two fifty. Well, I don’t know how much of a dent that would’ve put it in my wallet,” Tony said nudging Peter with his elbow. “But you’re right. At least I didn’t have to pay for that awful movie. And now we can return it and never have it in our home again. I’m serious about it being my pick next time. Last time I let you have final say with something like this…”

Peter smiled, dropping his jaw in mock offense. “This is just like the driving lesson! Stop acting like I asked to pick. You told me to!”

“Yeah, well, it was a mistake because that was possibly the most emotional movie I ever sat through and I specifically requested ‘fun’.”

The teenager nodded and rolled his eyes. With an impatient sigh, he glanced around the store a couple times, freezing suddenly when he saw her a couple feet away. “Oh,” he said awkwardly. “Um, hi, May.”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows and looked in the direction Peter was looking. Sure enough, May was standing fairly close to the line and had apparently been looking through some movies. She bit her lip awkwardly and just looked at them, unsure what to say.

“I was gonna ask what you’re doing here but I guess you’re getting a movie, yeah?” Peter asked, making an effort to sound friendly.

“Uh, yeah,” she nodded, smiling halfheartedly. “Are you… are you two returning something?”

“Oh please,” Tony scoffed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You heard us talking and you already now we’re returning a movie. No reason to pretend otherwise.”

“Ok, yeah,” she conceded. “I heard you. Not intentionally, just… anyway, you guys didn’t like it then?”

“No, it was horrible,” Tony told her flatly.

Peter rolled his eyes again and held it up for his aunt to see. “It was kinda sad.”

“That one is sad, isn’t it? But it’s still cute though, right?” She sounded like she was trying to avoid all awkwardness but it wasn’t working at all as she stood there unable to decide if she wanted to cross her arms or play with her hair.

Peter nodded slowly, then cleared his throat and glanced back Tony, who only raised an eyebrow at him. He looked back at his aunt again. “Um… are you doing ok? It’s been… it’s been a little while. Ned’s mom said they haven’t seen you and you seem… sad. Are you?”

She looked sad, anyway. Even then as she stared back with furrowed eyebrows and a considering half smile, she seemed distinctly unhappy. Lonely, maybe.

She shrugged a little, putting on an unconvincing but steady smile. “I’m ok.”

“May, I meant to call you this week,” Tony said suddenly, surprising both of the Parkers. They’d had their eyes locked on each other but broke the contact to look at Tony instead. “Yeah, I’ve been talking to my lawyers and everything. Trying to figure everything out. We’re going to need to meet up and get everything finalized.”

“Oh, right. Yes!” She nodded, slipping into even more of a forced smile, which was really more of a permanent cringe at this point. “Yeah, just call me. I’ll… I mean, I said I’d do it. So…” she shrugged.

The person at the front of the line had moved so Tony and Peter stepped forward and Tony slung an arm over the teen’s tense shoulders easily. All of them noticed the way Peter seemed to relax a little as soon as he’d done it.

“All right, well,” Tony flashed a smile at May. “We’re next so I think we’ll be leaving in a minute here. Nice to run into you for a minute though.”

May said a quick goodbye and left before they’d even reached the register. Apparently she’d lost interest in renting a movie. Peter remembered how much she’d always hated watching movies alone… she said it made her sad.

He frowned and felt Tony squeeze his shoulder briefly.

“Hey, you ok there, Pete?” Tony asked softly, just before walking up to the register where he let go of Peter and took the movie to hand to the cashier. It wasn’t Dennis but some guy Peter didn’t recognize. He’d probably started working there over the break.

As soon as they turned to leave, Tony looked down expectantly at Peter, still waiting for an answer.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he nodded, smiling genuinely. And he really was.

He hadn’t really been thinking about how long it had been since he’d last seen May until he saw her. Sometimes when you haven’t thought about someone and then you see them again you realize how much you really missed them.

Peter realized how much he didn’t, which made him feel disgustingly guilty - like to the point that it made him feel physically ill - but also just happy because if he didn’t miss her then that meant he was content. He had what he needed - _who_ he needed - and while he didn’t hate May… he realized that he hadn’t missed her at all.

He missed Ben but he didn’t really think about that very much anymore. When he did, he missed him and couldn’t help feeling some amount of sadness and still a little guilt over what had happened to him but… he was perfectly fine without him and he didn’t even feel that guilty about it, which was unexpected for Peter.

He had friends who cared a lot and he basically had a new dad. There was some part of that just always seemed convinced that he should be guilty about just about everything he did and felt. So more than anything he was guilty that he didn’t really feel guilty, which was behind confusing to him.

Everyone he knew was always telling him to stop beating himself for things he had no control over or even just things that weren’t wrong by anyone else’s definition. Deep down, he’d always sort of wanted to listen to them… so he guessed that was maybe what he was doing then. Just listening to the people who cared about him and were trying to help him.

That thought actually made him pretty proud. All he wanted was to make the people he loved happy so the realization that he was getting better at something they all wanted him to improve upon was pretty much enough to make his day.

Now he just had to stop feeling guilt over his lack of it…

-

“School starts on Monday, kid,” Tony announced as he cracked an egg into a bowl. “You ready for it?”

Peter only hummed in response as he sat at the counter, staring absently at a physics book he’d found somewhere in the tower.

Tony looked up at him with a creased bowl. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Peter answered, the word ending up so quiet as he said it that it was almost a whisper.

“Well, that’s a lie,” Tony snorted, cracking another egg. “C’mon, spill.”

“I just…” He trailed off and sighed, shutting the book he hadn’t even been paying much attention to as he ‘read’ it. “I’m not upset at you or anything, really, but I… I was really hoping that we’d... Have everything worked out by now. Instead of the middle of the school year, you know? And I know we can’t wait until next year and I’m not even saying I’d want to if we could but…” He shrugged.

“I know, kid,” Tony sighed, smiling and hoping it was at least a little comforting. “I tried. My regular legal team doesn’t really know what they’re doing with this kind of thing. I had to get some new people in on it and that took some time too. May and I are both a little clueless too. Last time she had to figure out this custody stuff, she was on the other side of it and under very different circumstances. Plus your uncle took care of everything they had to do. So she hasn’t been able to help much. We’re all trying but there are just things making it complicated. I’m sorry. I messed this one up a little, huh?”

“What? No, not at all,” Peter assured him earnestly. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I said I’m not upset at you! I meant it.”

Tony offered another comforting smile and went back to his baking. “Well, thanks, Peter… we’re hoping to get this all wrapped up within two months, ok? And I know that’s a long time. I know.”

“What’s the problem exactly?” Peter questioned, cocking his head to the side.

“There are just questions about me,” Tony told him, trying to keep his tone casual. Peter didn’t need to know how anxious it was making him feel. “I’ve talked to about it before. My past isn’t exactly that reassuring and now I fly around in a metal suit and fight bad guys, which makes me a bit of a target. So having a kid… well, it’s dangerous for you. And I know you’re more capable than most kids your age are but we can’t exactly tell the court why that is, can we? Other than the ‘Peter’s a genius kid’ part but that’s not going to convince them of much.”

“So… are they saying no?” Peter asked, chewing on the inside of his left cheek and bouncing his knee nervously.

“Not exactly. It’s more my legal team than anything. They’re trying to cover all the bases and make sure nothing’s going to trip us up. They’re trying to be careful and they have good reason to be… that’s my fault and I’m sorry. But there’s also just been a lot of… miscommunication and lack of response and it’s stressing everyone out.”

Really, Tony blamed May for a lot of that. She was still somewhat hesitant and had had a few minor freak out moments where she wasn’t calling back and Tony’s team started to worry she wasn’t going to agree to it anymore, which would mean Tony would have to either give up or convince a judge to take Peter from May and give him to Tony.

The problem there was not May. She had kicked a minor out of the home and therefore… a judge was unlikely to let her keep custody of Peter. But Tony? His team didn’t think he’d get custody either. They were concerned Peter would just be put into the system. So no one wanted to freak May out more and bring it to that.

That caution and hesitance meant that everything was moving a lot slower than Tony wanted it to. And he wondered the entire time if his team was being too paranoid or if they were right and he had a lot more work to do. Was he really that bad of a guardian? He knew Peter didn’t think so and while he wanted to say that was all that mattered… it wasn’t. He needed this whole thing to be legally approved and made official so someone else’s opinion was going to matter.

“Ok,” Peter nodded. “So… a couple more months then?” he nodded again, looking down and still chewing on his cheek. “We can do that. It’ll work out. Right?”

“Absolutely,” Tony told him with a level of confidence he hoped would rub off on the kid a little. Sure, it was hard but it would work out. At least, Tony figured, it had a better shot of being ok if they believed it would be.

“And until then, I’ll just have to try and avoid literally everyone at school.”

“First of all, _not_ literally since I highly doubt you’ll be avoiding Ned or, uh, _Mary Jane_.” A quick wink in Peter’s direction had exactly the desired effect as Peter shrunk in his chair a little and a rosy shade of pink appeared on his cheeks. “Second, why on earth are you planning to avoid people?”

“Because what if people noticed I’m never with May? I mean, she knows a lot of people and all of them know me and a lot of them have kids at my school. What if she’s had people over or something and I’m just never there? What if she’s telling people I moved out? Then everyone will know and they’ll ask a bunch of questions and stuff and I won’t know what to say because we agreed to try and not make a big deal out of it but it _will_ be a big deal when people find out and if I had at least been able to start the year with your name it would kinda be less weird! So what am I supposed to say if someone asks me a question?” He sighed loudly and ran his hands frustratedly through his hair. His words had started to run together and his voice had risen in volume as he’d gone. Now he just deflated with his head and arms sprawled out over the countertop.

“Wow,” was all Tony said at first. He’d stopped stirring his bowl about halfway through Peter’s rant and just stared at the teenager, unsure of how to respond. “That’s… a lot. And mostly sort of - don’t get offended here - a little unnecessary. You are letting yourself worry _way_ too much.”

“No, I’m not,” Peter muttered with his face still squashed against his arms on top of the counter. “It all makes sense if you think about it enough. And I’m _not_ complaining, by the way. Just sharing my thoughts.”

Tony tapped the top of Peter’s head to make him look up, which he did. “Ok, stop sounding so dejected. I’m not saying you don’t have any valid points but just… Look, it’s not worth worrying over, ok? At least not this much. Look, who do you know at school that you honestly think would care enough that you haven’t been with your aunt during break to ask about it?”

Peter didn’t say anything, opting to shrug his shoulders instead.

Tony nodded and raised an eyebrow. “See? So why worry someone will suddenly care about that? I’m not gonna lie, they’ll probably care when you’re suddenly ‘Stark’, but this? I don’t think they’ll care, assuming they even noticed. It’s not the kind of thing high schoolers worry about.”

“How would you know? It’s been, like, forty years since you were a teenager,” Peter deadpanned.

“Excuse you,” Tony exclaimed with a half joking scowl. “Why are you so bad at math when it comes to my age?”

Peter only shrugged and grinned at him, finally sitting up all the way and not looking so unfoundedly miserable. “What are you making? That’s not a muffin tin.”

Tony had started to pour his batter into a tall square shaped pan. “This is a coffee cake. I’m getting tired of muffins.”

“Really?” Peter gasped, his eyes widening. “Finally! I thought I was going to eat muffins every day until I die!”

“Yeah, yeah, ok,” Tony smirked at him and slid the pan into the oven. “So are you done worrying then?”

“Not really,” Peter scoffed. “I might never be. Just a fair warning.”

“Well,” Tony shrugged. “We’ll work on it.” He set the timer and then moved around the counter to sit by Peter. He pulled the book Peter had been reading out from under his folded arms. “Are you working on something or just reading for fun?”

Peter shrugged and looked down at the book while Tony flipped through it. “I guess just reading. Mary Jane wanted me to finish some book she made me borrow but it’s boring so I’m reading this instead.”

“What is it?”

“A super fat novel.”

“Why’d she make you borrow it?” Tony questioned, still flipping through the physics book. “Just tell her you don’t like it and give it back.”

Peter sighed almost dramatically. “No, because she made me agree to read five books she gets to pick for me to make up for lying to her all year.”

“That doesn’t make sense. You were lying to everyone.”

“Well, she doesn’t care!” Peter exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. “And I said yes so now I have to. And she said she picked this one because of ‘interesting parallels’.” He said the last part while making sarcastic air quotes with his fingers. “Which is stupid because the only parallel so far is just, like, _death_.”

Tony stopped flipping pages and looked over at Peter, trying not to smile too much. “Death, huh? And what does that parallel?”

“Me, apparently. Literally the only similarity is that the main character’s parents died and he lived with his aunt and uncle. That’s it. His parents didn’t even die at the same time,” Peter informed Tony flatly.

Really, that had not been Mary Jane’s reasoning. She just liked the book. But while she’d been explaining it to peter she had mentioned that she’d thought of Peter when she read it the first time because of that and thought it was, as he’d said, an interesting parallel. That was all Peter got out of the conversation.

“Why did I even say I’d read her stupid book?” Peter demanded as if Tony should know that.

He didn’t really but he had a good guess. However, all he gave in response was a knowing smile, which made Peter glare at him and go back to reading his physics book.

The oven timer started to beep impatiently and Tony rushed to get the coffee cake out.

When he opened the door he didn’t get it out right away, Instead, he stood with his hands on his hips for a minute and frowned at it.

“What’s wrong?” Peter asked, leaning over the counter to try and get a better look at it.

“Uh… it looks soupy.”

“Sorry, what? How does any kind of cake look soupy? What did you do to it?”

Tony rolled his eyes at Peter and shut the oven again. “It’s fine. I’ll just give it some more time. And maybe I’ll turn the temperature up a little.”

Peter raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Well, ok then. I’m not sure how well _that’s_ going to work but sure.”

“A little faith here, please?”

It turned out Peter had good reason to be skeptical about it. Tony’s attempt to fix his mess of a cake went almost unbelievably badly.

The second time he took it out, he could at least say it was no longer soupy. Except now it was burnt instead. And not just burnt but literally on fire.

Then he dropped it.

Peter was already laughing even as he helped Tony clean the floor of coffee cake or, as Tony had dubbed it, a burning splatter of failure. Tony didn’t laugh about it until at least a few months after the incident.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I should've warned spoilers for Finding Nemo at the top. ;D


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

“Wait, you want to go to Oscorp? _Oscorp?_ ”

Peter shrugged and nodded a little. “Well, yeah… I mean, it’s a school thing so it’s not just… I don’t know.”

Tony groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Yeah, last time you had a school thing at Oscorp, a spider bit you. Now Osborn’s out to get you. Are you expecting this to be an uneventful visit?”

Peter shrugged again. “I don’t know what I’m _expecting_ but it’s just… well, everyone is going and -”

“And if everyone was jumping off a -”

“Don’t even say it,” Peter cut him off with a deadpan stare and then sighed. “Well, Ned and MJ are going and I just thought maybe it would… be different. And I’m asking you about it because they said we can bring, um, parents so I thought… I thought if you…”

“You thought if I went with you it might be ok?” Tony asked, frowning contemplatively.

Peter nodded and kicked his feet a little, accidentally hitting the coffee table. “We don’t have to be there the whole time. But I don’t really want to miss it and I want to go with my friends. And I don’t think he’ll even be there…”

“Well, Peter, how do you expect me to be comfortable with this when you aren’t either?” Tony asked gently. “Look what you’re doing. You’re hiding again,” he said, gesturing to Peter’s arm, which he’d crossed under the right one as much as he could.

“The school does something like this every year, Tony,” Peter said, ignoring what Tony had been trying to talk about. “We go to some kind of science thing with a couple other schools to kick off the school year and I don’t want to miss one. If I do, then I only have one more I can go to and that’s next year. I mean, ok so this one is at Oscorp and that kinda sucks but I just don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”

“Except that every time we think it’ll be fine… it’s not,” Tony brought up, shrugging a little. He sighed tiredly. “When did you say it is?”

“Tomorrow evening?” Peter answered, his face screwing up in a mix of guilt and plain awkwardness. “Sorry.”

Tony sighed again gave Peter a disapproving glance. “Ok. Well, thanks for giving me ample time to think about it and prepare for all possible outcomes.”

Peter nodded his head to the side and frowned. “I mean, I said sorry though… so, like, how bad am I in all actuality?”

“Really?” Tony smirked. “Go to bed, we’ll talk in the morning.”

“Ok,” Peter said, getting up from the couch hesitantly. “So… are we going?”

That was the night they realized that they had gotten to a point where Tony could say, “go get in your bed and sleep”, with one look and Peter would not only understand but also not bother arguing.

-

“I hope you know that I am not the slightest bit comfortable with this,” Tony said in a falsely calm tone. He had an arm wrapped firmly around Peter’s shoulders as they walked into the building. “Stay close, ok? If you want to talk to people, they can come over to you.”

“Ok,” Peter said, laughing softly.

“I’m going to be watching you and the second I notice you trying to cover up your arm or something, we’re out of here, ok?”

Tony’s posture was tense and though he was keeping a solid hold on Peter he was also prepared to let go and fight the moment he needed to.

Peter really, really hoped he didn’t need to.

The place was crowded and loud, which Peter didn’t really enjoy. He tried to focus on the weight of Tony’s arm, which was helping to keep him somewhat more grounded. At one point he thought he heard Tony whisper a reminder to breathe but he wasn’t entirely sure.

As much as he’d wanted to go, Peter was about to suggest forgetting the whole thing and leaving when Ned and Mary Jane came up to them.

“Hey, guys,” Peter breathed, letting himself loosen up enough to grin. Tony’s ready stance was somehow comforting and worrying at the same time because it made him feel that he needed to worry but also that if something happened… he’d be ok.

“Did you two just get here?” Ned asked. He was excited to be there and his eyes couldn’t stop darting around, trying to spot everything. “MJ and I have been here for, like, fifteen minutes and we haven’t seen everything yet. Apparently there’s more stuff we can look at on the second story so I really want to check that out but MJ said she wanted to wait down here for you first. A lot of the parents are sitting at the café over there so that’s where my mom is if you want to say hi but no one will mind if you don’t. Mary Jane just came with us because her mom works weekends and her dad was busy or something.”

Peter nodded and pretended he’d been able to keep up with all of that. He glanced at Mary Jane and noticed her smile falter at the mention of her parents. Peter knew she wasn’t very close with her parents. It had always been a bit of a touchy subject for her.

“MJ, you ok?” Peter asked.

That made her smile drop completely. “Yeah, Peter. I’m fine. You look a little skittish though.”

Peter narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded slowly. “I’m ok.”

If he noticed Tony alternating between looking around the room, down at Peter’s arm, and at his face… he didn’t say anything. Instead, he just focused on his friends and the feeling of Tony’s arm.

 _Breathe_.

Ned suggested they all go upstairs to look around. Tony grumbled about it but agreed. Seeing how annoyed he was about it, Ned started to suggest that Tony could go wait with his mom if he didn’t want to go but Peter interrupted him with a subtle shake of the head. Tony was not about to let Peter go anywhere in the building without him.

He did, however, let go of Peter’s shoulders and let him walk with his friends while he fell behind a few paces to get a better view of their surroundings.

“So, I was thinking,” Ned said carefully once there was some distance between the teenagers and Tony. “I kinda want to see about getting, like, an internship next summer.”

“And you want to know if you can get into SI?” Peter asked with a grin. His friend nodded eagerly. “Yeah, probably. I know they have high school interns and you’re really smart, so I think you could get in even if you didn’t personally know Tony.”

“Expect he’d probably screw up whatever the application process is because he’d be geeking out too much to think straight,” Mary Jane smirked at Ned. “So having friends on the inside is a definite plus.”

“Friends on the inside of what?” someone asked them from the left. Just as Peter looked over to see it was, Tony was right up behind him again.

And that was only natural seeing as it was Harry Osborn.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to butt in,” Harry said, smiling widely. “I just saw you and thought I’d come say hi. Heard the end of your conversation, I guess. Or the middle? I sort of interrupted, huh?”

“Hi, Harry. Wanna maybe leave?” Tony suggested with a smile so fake it was barely even moving as he spoke.

Peter rolled his eyes and nudged Tony with his elbow. “Hey, Harry. Nice to see you. These are my friends, Ned and Mary Jane.”

Harry held a hand out for Ned to shake and said hello. Then he turned to Mary Jane with a charming smile and actually seemed to be intending to kiss her hand when she took his extended one. She responded by pointedly shaking it instead and then stepping back, raising an eyebrow at Peter.

“Uh, well… you’re all with Midtown, correct?” Harry asked, smiling but seeming a little uncomfortable. Peter wasn’t sure if was about Mary Jane rejecting his attempt to flirt with her maybe whatever death glare Tony was giving him from behind them.

It was probably Tony.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Ned confirmed, nodding with a friendly smile. Something about his exuberance seemed to put everyone a little more at ease. “You probably go to some fancy school, right? Since you’re a rich kid, I mean.”

Harry chuckled, shrugging casually. “I _have_ gone to ‘fancy schools’, yes. But not this year. Actually, I, uh, transferred to Midtown. So I guess we’ll be classmates this year!”

Tony bristled at that and Peter groaned internally.

“Woah, cool!” Ned grinned, clapping a hand on Harry’s shoulder. Harry jumped slightly at the sudden contact but grinned back. “So, how do you know Peter?”

“Oh, we met at an event at the science museum a few blocks away. It was right before his birthday,” he looked over at Peter. “Did you have a good birthday, by the way? I don’t remember if I ever asked you that…”

Peter raised his eyebrows and nodded, resisting the urge to look back at Tony and see how annoyed he looked. He wondered where it would fall on a scale of one to ten.

“So, Harry,” Mary Jane said. She was using that tone of hers that made you feel like she knew something, even if she probably didn’t. “Do you like science?”

“Well, my dad is Norman -”

“I didn’t ask about your dad,” she interrupted. “Do _you_ like science? Because I saw you a few times before Peter got here and you looked pretty bored to me. Is that just because you’ve been in this building a thousand times or are you completely uninterested?”

Harry frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I like it ok, I guess. I don’t know if I’d want to make a career out of it like my dad but… I mean, he’s done some pretty impressive stuff though. He doesn’t let me look at most of his projects and research but I know he’s been spending a lot of time in his labs the past few months. He’s working pretty hard on something and I’m sure it’s going to be -”

“Quit talking about your miserable excuse for a human of a father,” Tony snapped suddenly and Peter spun around to face him with wide eyes.

“Tony,” he hissed. “Could we step away for a minute?”

“Gladly,” Tony answered harshly, still glaring at Harry as Peter pulled him a few feet away. Harry looked positively scared out of his mind until Ned started gushing about something he’d seen that he thought was cool and distracted him from Tony and Peter. Mary Jane kept her eyes on them, however, though she seemed to be listening to Ned still.

“Can you maybe just _try_ to be nice to him?” Peter begged, trying to keep his voice down so no one would hear anything as they walked by them.

Tony scoffed. “Why should I? Seriously, give me one reason.”

“Um, other than the obvious one where you’re a full grown man picking on a teenager? How about he’s nice to me?” Peter suggested, his arms crossed. “He’s actually trying to be my friend. He’s not his dad.”

“Well, what are his motives?” Tony demanded, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“ _Tony_ ,” Peter sighed, rolling his eyes back as he closed them briefly. “Just - just _try_? If there’s going to a problem I don’t really want us… to be the ones… uh…”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows, forgetting about Harry for the time being. Peter had cocked his head to the side and his eyes had shifted downwards. “Kid… you ok?”

Peter nodded slowly, still not looking up. “Yeah, something just - I think it’s my… um…”

“Your what? Your… _sense_?” Tony did a quick scan of the area, trying to find out what was getting to Peter.

Then, with a sharp intake of breath, Peter turned his head suddenly to look down past the glass guardrails and look at the crowd still gathered downstairs.

“Pete, what is it? Is it Osborn?”

Peter shook his head and frowned. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He forced himself to look back at Tony again. “Ok, so I’m just saying that -”

“No,” Tony cut him off, still wearing a concerned expression. “You aren’t changing the subject back. What just happened?”

“No, it’s ok now,” Peter insisted. “I’m fine.”

“You can’t just ignore that,” Tony argued, his frown deepening. “If your sense is reacting to something then you need to figure out what it is. You can’t just ignore it and move on. What’s the point in having it if you’re going to do that?”

“I don’t want to talk about it here,” Peter told him. “Please, can we not?”

He was getting agitated, which was making everything louder. He could hear Ned still going on about something and Harry chiming in only every now and again. Mary Jane was still watching Tony and Peter and even though he was pointedly _not_ looking back at her, Peter felt as if she was staring into his soul again.

Sighing, Peter glanced back down again. There were too many people and he couldn’t narrow in on any one thing.

“Peter, I want to help,” Tony was telling him.

_Had he been talking the whole time?_

“Let’s just go back down,” was all Peter offered in response, his eyes still darting around the crowd beneath them.

Tony nodded and looked back at Peter’s friends. Peter didn’t really know if he let them know they were heading back down or maybe just gave some kind of gesture meant to indicate what they were doing. Maybe he just looked. Peter was too focused on the other people to notice.

Once they had made their way down the stairs, Tony decided to make a beeline toward the café Ned had pointed out. It didn’t have walls to separate it from the rest of the place. It was in a corner that protruded from the rest of the wall space. There was simply a beam at the outer end with the rest left open. The back was reserved for the small kitchen space. Everything else was either empty floor or a small section of little, round tables and matching chairs.

It was all very immaculate, comprised of clean edges and spotless grays and whites.

It made Peter uncomfortable but it felt smaller, which was nice. With the small section having it’s own much lower roof, he felt a little more protected. Being down in the thick of the crowd wasn’t really ideal and made it harder to keep an eye on anything - or _for_ any _one_. But they were closer to the door, which was another thing making Peter feel a little safer and more prepared.

This whole thing had been a massive mistake and he was going to let Tony to kick his shin if he ever suggested something this stupid again.

“Ok. Keep breathing,” Tony reminded as they sat down. Luckily, most people were walking around and talking or looking at the displays that had been set up specifically for the students to see. That meant getting a table hadn’t been difficult. Although, most people probably would’ve moved if Tony Stark came up and told them to.

Peter nodded and made sure he was actually doing that. Breathing was hard to remember to do sometimes…

“Are you feeling ok?” Tony questioned seriously, leaning forward across the table. “We can go.”

“No, I’m…” he trailed off and looked up to where they’d left his friends. They were still there and he could just see them from where he was seated. If any of them had moved a couple inches, he wouldn’t have been able to spot them. Harry was talking then and Peter wondered what he was saying. Mary Jane was actually paying attention to the younger Osborn then.

“You’re…?” Tony prompted gently and Peter’s eyes snapped back to look into Tony’s.

“I’m fine.”

But then that feeling was back at the base of his skull.

It was only a dull ache instead of the sharper bursts that alerted him when something was about to happen or fly towards him. This wasn’t so urgent but it gave him a lot more time to worry…

“No, it’s happening again,” Tony said plainly. “Is there actually something present or is it just from being back here?”

Peter shrugged and opened his eyes. He hadn’t realized that he’d closed them.

He turned his gaze away from Tony and scanned the crowd again instead. His searching eyes landed on the last person he’d wanted to see and he felt his blood run cold.

Really, Peter should’ve known this would happen. After all… they had gone into _his_ territory and he kept managing to show up other places so why not there?

Peter’s reasoning had been that this was a school event that was simply taking place at Oscorp. There was no reason for him to be there. Things happened in the building all the time that he wasn’t involved in. He hadn’t been there last year during the field trip.

But when he saw Harry, he should’ve known. Most of the students had brought their parents and Harry was new so it sort of made sense that he’d want to have his dad there for his first interaction with the rest of the students. Or that maybe Norman would want to get a feel for what kind of school his son would be attending. There were a few possibilities but he hadn’t thought of any of them until then.

So he shouldn’t have been surprised and, in a way, he wasn’t. But he was never really prepared for it either.

Osborn was walking towards them and Peter knew he could see them there, even if it took a moment for him to actually focus on them - on _Peter_.

Then he was casually lifting his water like some sort of greeting and Peter instinctively grabbed Tony’s arm.

“Dad,” he choked out, feeling himself tense up.

Then, to Peter’s horror, Osborn stopped in his tracks. His head tilted curiously to the side as his eyes narrowed slightly and his already unsettling smirk grew.

_He’d heard Peter._

Tony had seemed to be about to get up for a moment but then looked at Peter and apparently changed his mind. Peter couldn’t make himself move so he didn’t see Tony’s face but it must’ve been pretty effectively threatening because Osborn’s own smug expression faltered. After regaining his composure, he gave a simple nod in their direction and retreated, disappearing to somewhere Peter couldn’t see, which was both terrifying and a relief.

_Breathe. Breathe. Breathe._

Peter felt like he was choking as he blinked away tears that had been forming in his eyes.

“Hey,” Tony said, cutting in through Peter’s panicked thoughts. “You’re going to be ok. Can you hear me? Are you listening, kid?”

Peter nodded shakily.

“Ok. Keep breathing and then we’ll get out of this place.”

Gasping in a few short breaths, Peter sort of nodded again. “Tony?”

“Yeah?” Tony’s voice was gentle and concerned. He didn’t sound angry. Still…

“I’m - I’m so s-sorry,” Peter gasped quietly. “I didn’t - wasn’t trying. But I - I did it _again_. I’m sorry!”

Tony sighed sadly and shook his head. “No. Stop saying that. You’re ok, really. I’m not mad.”

He also wasn’t sure exactly what Peter was referring to. Maybe everything… _Probably_ everything.

Once Peter’s breathing had relaxed, Tony moved to stand up but Peter still hadn’t let go of his arm. Instead, his grip had tightened.

“Hey, kid, I kinda need that,” Tony said.

Peter’s eyes widened slightly and he started to let go but didn’t.

“Peter,” Tony said almost questioningly.

The teenager bit his lip and shook his head. “I - I’m trying.”

Tony nodded and settled back into his seat. “What’s in the way?”

“I don’t know,” Peter whispered, staring intently at his hand on Tony’s arm. Tony thought he might be trying to will it to let go. “I’m stuck but I’m not trying to be. Like last year…”

“When things were new?” Tony supplied and got a nod as affirmation. “So… do we just wait it out then?”

“I… think I just need to calm down. My heart is beating really fast.”

Tony nodded again was quiet after that, letting Peter just try and relax. After a few minutes of just sitting there, Peter folded his face in his arms on the little table. Tony was pretty sure that if anyone just glanced at them they would assume Peter’s hand had accidentally ended up on Tony’s arm when he put his head down.

That was good, he figured. It made them less noticeable.

Just as Peter was lifting his head, after maybe ten minutes of staying in that position, Ned and Mary Jane walked up to their table. Peter tried to sit up but ended up just leaning forward on his elbows. He’d managed to get his hand off of Tony by then.

“Hey, guys,” Peter said, making an obvious effort to seem ok. _Normal_.

Really, he just looked and sounded like he wanted to take a nap.

“Are you having a good time?” Peter asked them. “Did you like Harry ok? He seems pretty nice to me.”

Ned looked like he was about to answer when Mary Jane cut him off before he’d even started. “Peter, you need to go home,” she said dryly.

Peter’s jaw dropped slightly. “What?”

“It’s not good for you to be here. Stop doing this to yourself.”

Tony smirked at that. “Well, I like her. Come on, Peter, she’s right. Let’s get home, ok?”

Peter frowned slightly but nodded and stood up, letting Tony grip his elbow lightly and pull him so he was standing just a little closer.

“Are you guys staying?” Peter asked his friends.

Ned shrugged. “Probably not much longer. I’ve just to find my mom. Are you busy later? We could watch a movie.”

Mary Jane nodded and smiled slightly. “Yeah, that’d be fun if you’re up for it, Peter.”

Peter glanced questioningly at Tony who smiled at the three of them and started to move in the direction of the door.

“Yeah, you two can come on over whenever you’re ready and you can all hang out or whatever. Not too late though. It’s a school night.”

Ned grinned at Tony. “Hey thanks, Mr. Stark! That’ll be awesome.”

Mary Jane nodded. “Yes, thank you. We appreciate it and we won’t stay too late.” She looked at Peter and smiled her friendly smile that he liked so much. “We’ll see you in a little bit, Tiger.”

Peter just nodded and smiled awkwardly, offering a tiny wave as he followed Tony out the door.

“‘Tiger’, huh?” Tony smirked down at Peter, laughing as his ears and cheeks turned bright red.

“Please shut up,” Peter mumbled, trying not to smile.

-

Peter definitely carried out his mental note to request a kick to the shins in the event that he thought something so obviously stupid was a good idea again. Except he didn’t just tell Tony to do that. He waited until his friends had gotten the tower and told all of them that they were not only allowed but encouraged to do that very thing.

Ned was honestly just a little confused and said he probably wouldn’t do that. Tony agreed to set him straight but maybe just not kick him. Mary Jane thought it was a great plan.

They let Ned pick the movie and he was thrilled when Tony told him he could pick any movie and didn’t have to worry about whether or not they had the dvd because he’d be happy to rent or buy anything they wanted. Well, he was thrilled at first. Then he was horrified at the prospect of choosing from every movie there was.

He only managed it after he was told he could always come back and watch more another time. He ended up choosing one of Peter’s favorite cult classics, which would normally have been nice. However, the dreamy narrative and cinematography had Peter asleep on the armrest of the couch within the first half hour.

They didn’t actually notice until a scene that always made Peter laugh. When he didn’t react to it, his friends glanced over and saw that his head had tipped completely to the side and his eyes were closed. He was sitting with his a pillow hugged to his chest and his legs pulled him in front of him.

Tony had gone to get some things done in his workshop while they watched their movie and when he came out near the end of it, he recognized Peter’s position has the one he tended to adopt when he was in the process of beating himself up. He sighed and walked over to the couch, kneeling on the ground behind it. Both of the teenagers still awake and watching the movie looked back at him.

“He’s been asleep for a while now,” Mary Jane informed him, keeping her tone low so as not to disturb Peter. “We figured we’d just let ourselves out after the movie.”

Tony nodded. “That sounds like a good plan. He might wake up then.”

Peter’s mouth was turned in a slight frown, his eyebrows pinched. His expression relaxed when Tony carded his fingers through his loose curls.

“Hey, Mr. Stark?” Ned spoke up.

“‘Tony’,” he corrected automatically, eyes focused on the screen even though he wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to say thank you for helping Peter so much,” Ned shrugged awkwardly. “He hasn’t been this happy in a while. Not that he was miserable or something,” he amended hurriedly.

“No, but he wasn’t as happy as he should’ve been,” Mary Jane agreed with him. Unlike Ned, who was looking at Tony, she too was just looking ahead the screen. Although he was paying just as much attention to it as Tony was. “He’s not so… worried now.”

Tony frowned and looked back down at Peter. “He worries all the time.”

“But not as much as before,” Ned kept going. “We’re not saying everything is ok now but he’s just more comfortable now and since he’s been with you he doesn’t have to lie all the time now. He can just be himself and it must’ve been really exhausting for him to go through life without being able to do that, right?”

“Ned’s right,” Mary Jane said just as the movie came to an end. Thirty seconds into the credits, she hummed quietly and stood up. “Well, the movie’s over. We’ll go. Thanks.”

Tony nodded with a smile he hoped communicated something like “you’re welcome and thank you too”. He wasn’t sure how right they were or weren’t about what they’d said but he knew they helped Peter too. Especially now that he wasn’t lying to them anymore because they were right about how exhausting that would’ve been for him to keep up.

They let themselves out quietly and Tony stayed where he was all through the credits of the film. Maybe it was the lack of noise when the credits ended that woke Peter up but even then it was only halfway.

He turned to his head to look at Tony somewhat blearilyas his hair was pushed away from his eyes by a hand that wasn’t his own.

“Did I fall asleep?” He asked, letting his only half open eyes flutter shut again.

“Yeah, you did. Ned and Mary Jane left,” Tony told him. “No, don’t feel bad,” he said when Peter started to frown. “You were tired. No one minded, ok? You’ll see them again at school tomorrow. Do you need help getting to your room?”

Then Peter _really_ frowned. “Can we stay here? I don’t really want to be alone right now.”

Tony nodded and came to sit next to Peter, draping a blanket over the teenager and leaving his fingers in his hair until he’d drifted back to sleep again.

Tony didn’t sleep that night. Instead, he sat there and let his mind wander save for the times when Peter’s eyes would snap open and he’d take deep gasping breaths until Tony calmed him down and he slept again.

He wondered if Ned and Mary Jane were right. A part of him knew that they were. He _had_ helped Peter and he knew it. Not only that, it was one of the achievements he was proudest of. But a part of him wondered how much of the change they’d noticed had to do with him and how much was simply that they knew Peter’s secret now and they’re friendship had been made easier.

Ultimately, he decided he didn’t really care. The point was that Peter was noticeably happier and yes, there were still things they needed to get him past but they’d be able to. He knew that much at least.

Peter was unstoppable and together… Tony thought they made a pretty great team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, not much to say here... but we'll be seeing a little more of Harry now that he's going to be at Midtown! He still won't be a huge character but I promise he'll be more important in the next story!


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a review saying that it hadn't shown the last update before this one. This is because I uploaded a number of chapters in bulk and have them all saved but unposted so that the process of posting them is a lot shorter. This means that all of the dates are from last month or the month before, so I have to change them before posting. Unfortunately, I forgot on the Monday update this week. So that's why it wasn't showing up. If you're reading this and didn't see the update on Monday, just go back a chapter so you don't miss anything! ;D

“Oh good, you’re up,” Tony said cheerfully from the kitchen as Peter shuffled his way over from the couch. “Do you like the food at school or do you want me to make you something? Oh, don’t give me that look. I know how to make a sandwich.”

Peter yawned and shook his head. “I’ll get something there, thanks. Are we back to muffins or did you decide to try a coffee cake again?”

Tony sighed dejectedly and slid Peter a plate with two toaster waffles. “I got up too late. Rhodey would be disappointed in me if I didn’t tell you to have an apple or something with this but I’m not going to care if you decide not to. You’re sixteen so I feel like that kind of thing can be up to you.”

Peter nodded and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl to eat while he walked to school. He set it set to his plate and sat down to eat.

“So, are you feeling ok about school?” Tony asked him as he ate his own waffles.

“I guess,” Peter shrugged. “I mean, I’m still kinda worried but at least Harry’ll be there. He’ll be more interesting to people than who _I_ stayed with over the summer, right?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Tony answered distastefully. “I don’t think he’s that interesting.”

“Well, you would if you were in high school and only knew him as a rich guy’s son,” Peter grinned. “You’re thinking of him as an evil guy’s son, who you find suspicious for no reason other than that. So of course you don’t like him.”

“And for some reason you _do_ like him,” Tony sighed, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t know,” Peter admitted, shoving a large piece of waffle in his mouth. “I’m just willing to give him a chance and he doesn’t seem too bad.”

“Yeah, ok,” Tony grumbled. “Hurry up and finish your food so you can get dressed.”

Peter nodded and wolfed down the rest of his food before jumping to his feet and racing to his room. He was ready in record time but still got out the door late but he was sure he leaving someone behind and had to dig through all his things and run through his mental at least three times before he realized he had been forgetting to put on his shoes.

He didn’t mind Tony laughing at him for that one. It _was_ pretty funny.

Still, it had set him back. So rather than just walk to school, he ran. And he was very lucky that he had his super powers or else he would’ve been entirely wiped out by the time he got there. More likely before...

He managed to get there just in time to not be late as well as _after_ Flash had parked his stupid car, which meant he didn’t have to worry about dodging it in the parking lot. “Pretend to try and hit Peter Parker with a car” was apparently one of Flash’s favorite games. He was really just lucky that Peter was Spider-Man because he would in a whole world of hurt if he did that to someone who didn’t have a 99.9% chance of getting out of the way. But he was just getting out of his car when Peter showed up on campus anyway.

Peter kind of hated the first day of school. There was a strange blend of people who were acting excited then but would complaining soon enough and people who were already complaining. There were also people like who were genuinely pleased to get back to class but they didn’t tend to be as loud, which made them feel like a minority, whether or not they really were.

Slipping through the hoards of students, Peter went straight to his locker to get it organized for the start of the school year. He’d only been there for maybe two minutes when he got a text. And then another.

The first one was from Tony.

**Going ok?**

Peter decided to text back once he’d read the other, which turned out to be from Harry.

**Where’s your locker? I’ll come find you.**

Sighing, Peter responded with his locker number and then texted Tony back.

**Just got here. Nothing’s happened yet so I don’t know.**

The response was almost immediate.

**Nothing is better than something bad, right?**

Peter chuckled and texted him back again.

**Yeah, sure.**

“Well, it’s the first day of school! Exciting.” Harry had popped up behind Peter suddenly because he apparently had no idea about how _not_ to do that.

Peter turned out to smile at Harry. “Yeah, very exciting. Uh, what classes do you have?”

“Oh!” Harry swung his backpack off his shoulder and pulled out his schedule, which he held out for Peter to take.

“Oh. Ok.” He scanned the paper and nodded, handing it back. “Looks like we have the same lunch and a couple classes together.”

“Same lunch?” Harry grinned. “Can we sit together?”

“Um… probably,” Peter nodded hesitantly. “I mean, I always sit with Ned and Mary Jane but they probably wouldn’t mind if you sat with us.”

_Tony will mind…_

“Really? I don’t want to be in the way but you’re kind of the only person here I know. Well, and them since yesterday. They seem nice by the way.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty great,” Peter agreed, going back to working on his locker as Harry leaned against the one next to Peter’s.

“Especially Mary Jane. She seemed really nice. Funny too!”

Peter furrowed his eyebrows at that. “Yeah?” It had been Peter’s experience that most people found her intimidating and boring - especially after only one time speaking to her. She wasn’t that open until you got to know here and after that, of course she was nice and she had her own sense of humor that you just had to get used to. So what had happened after Peter and Tony left?

“Definitely,” Harry grinned. Peter decided he didn’t like that grin very much. “And you don’t think she’d mind if I sat with you three during lunch?”

Peter just shrugged. And really, he had no clue. She was unpredictable.

“Oh, I think it’s time to get to class,” Harry said, looking around a little anxiously. He was completely out of his element. “I guess I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah,” Peter smiled reassuringly. “You’ll be fine. I was going to say it’s no different than the school you went to before but I don’t actually know that and it’s probably not true so just… it’s going to be ok. For the most part, this place is great!”

Harry smiled back gratefully and walked down the hall, his head down as he stared at his slightly crumpled schedule and tried to figure out where he was going.

Ned came up to Peter then so they could walk together to their first class. “Hey, was that Harry?”

Peter nodded, adjusting his backpack on his shoulder. “I think he’s nervous.”

“Why?” Ned laughed. “He’s, like, rich and famous. Everyone’ll love him.”

“What are you dorks talking about?”

_Great._

Flash Thompson elbowed his way in between the two friends and waited for an answer. Peter didn’t know why he cared but he sighed in resignation and answered anyway.

“Harry Osborn. He just transferred to -”

“Yeah, I heard about that,” Flash interrupted and Peter resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Well, why are you talking about him?”

“Because he just walked down the hall and Ned was saying that everyone would probably love him,” Peter sighed tiredly. He decided not to mention the nervousness part because if Flash decided that he _didn’t_ like Harry then he’s already have something to target. “And you care why exactly?”

“Hey, watch it, Parker,” Flash hissed, his face a little too close to Peter’s ear.

Peter flinched away involuntarily and inwardly cringed when he saw the gears turning in Flash’s head. Then the other teen nodded and walked away, not missing the opportunity to shove both Peter and Ned a little.

Shaking his head with a frustrated huff, Peter squeezed the straps of his backpack and kept walking to his class.

Ned leaned in a little as they walk and asked under his breath, “Hey, are you ok? You kinda looked, like, pained or something.”

“I’m fine,” Peter mumbled as the stepped into the classroom and went to sit down. "Just… a little sensitive.”

-

**They’re asking me questions, Tony. I knew this would happen and I told you. I TOLD YOU. What am I supposed to say exactly? What do I tell them because they have they have questions and I have no clue how to deal with it!**

“Hello? Peter?” Seymour waved a hand in front of Peter’s face. “I asked you a question.”

And he had, of course. But before he could deal with trying to answer him, Peter had need to text Tony about the situation.

“Uh… sorry,” Peter said insincerely. “I just…. Had to text someone.”

“Ok, well now you have. So answer the question,” the shorter boy demanded, looking impatient.

Peter glanced quickly over her shoulder. “Look, lower your voice. We’re in the library.”

“No one cares! Just tell me.”

Peter sighed in frustration just as he got a responding text. “Hold on.” he pretended not to notice the offended look on Seymour’s face as he looked down at his phone.

**What exactly are you being asked? Also, calm down, ok?**

He glared at his phone and typed his answer, thumbs flying.

**I’m being asked why you were with me yesterday! What do I say?**

There was a longer time between texts than Peter was used to Tony so he assumed the man was typing something pretty long until he actually got the text. Then he realized Tony had probably just been laughing or something.

**Is that all? You need to relax. Say whatever you want. It doesn’t matter.**

‘ _Doesn’t matter’._

Peter sighed again and looked up at Seymour and the friends he had apparently brought with him to interrogate Peter. Then he glanced at Ned, who only shrugged unhelpfully. Mary Jane just stayed focused on her book.

“Ok,” Peter started. “So, you know how I’m an intern at SI?”

“Yeah? So?”

“Well, they send some kind of escort with all the interns when they’re at any public or semi-public events like that. It’s purely precautionary.”

Seymour looked at Peter like he’d just told them he had a pet unicorn. “That’s ridiculous. Like _Tony Stark_ is going to go with some random intern to a school event.”

“Everyone else was busy, Seymour,” Peter responded automatically. “Besides, he wanted to get an inside look at Oscorp and stuff.”

“He didn’t though,” one of Seymour’s friends chimed in, looking confused. “He was just right by you the whole time, like, _glaring_ at people.”

“Ah,” Peter breathed, nodding seriously. He noticed Mary Jane looking up then. “Well, you see, that’s because he doesn’t trust most teenagers. He has reason to believe that most everyone at high school is trying to make everyone do super dangerous drugs and stuff. He doesn’t want that kind of negative lifestyle making its way into his company so he has to ward off all potential drug dealers so that I don’t fall down a dark path. It all comes with being sort of an SI employee and I’ll certainly never be an actual employee without someone there to keep away the junkies, right? So it’s really a win-win situation if you think about it enough.”

“Fine, don’t answer then,” Seymour scoffed and rolled his eyes, leaving the study table with his friends.

Peter watched them go and then turned back to his friends with a satisfied smile on his face. Ned’s jaw had dropped open and Mary Jane was staring at him with her eyebrows raised higher than he thought he’d ever seen.

“Did… Tony tell you to say all that?” Ned asked, sounding slightly awed, actually.

Peter shook his head. “No, he said it didn’t matter.”

“And that’s what you came up with?” Mary Jane questioned, looking genuinely confused. “Who do you even know at Midtown that would try to sell you drugs?”

“If I had to guess… probably Flash. Though he wouldn’t really try to sell his drug to me because he doesn’t like me and wouldn’t want to include me in his small business behind the buses in the parking lot. Not that he has one… but if he did, I think we can all agree that’s where it would operate from, right?”

Mary Jane just gave a long-suffering sigh and went back to her book.

Peter wondered how Tony would feel about his colorful answer…

**I told them you’re protecting your interns - and subsequently your company - from junkie teenagers.**

Tony took a while to respond again and even though he tried, Peter couldn’t come up with a guess as to what he was going to say.

**Well… I’m not sure how that works but I like it. I hope I did my job well because now that you bring it up I definitely don’t want you hanging around junkies.**

Peter actually laughed out loud when he read the text, which made Ned curious. He showed him the texts but apparently Ned wasn’t as amused.

Oh well. He didn’t have to be.

Peter sort of wondered what Tony would do if he ever actually became friends with people were into drugs. Not that he could even imagine that, really…

-

When Peter got home from school that day, he kicked of his shoes and dropped his backpack right by the door and went straight to the couch. There, he collapsed on the cushions and let out a satisfied sigh.

“Good day or bad day?” Tony asked as he walked over with a mug of coffee. He tapped Peter’s legs to make him move them so he could sit. Peter pulled this back long enough for Tony to take a seat but then extended them again and let them rest on top of Tony’s. Tony only rolled his eyes a little but didn’t complain.

“Um… I don’t know,” Peter answered noncommittally.

“Well, tell me about it.” Tony shrugged and drank some his coffee, watching Peter through the corners of his eyes while he waited for an answer. “Anything happen? You know, other than stories about drug dealers?”

Peter’s thoughtful expression broke into a grin at that. “Not really. Flash was annoying, as usual. But I got to have lunch with my friends and no one bothered us, which was nice. It was good to just talk for a while.”

“Well, I hope you’re still being careful what you talk about,” Tony said. “Just because they know, it doesn’t mean you want everyone around you to know too. You do still want to keep Spider-Man a secret, right?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, but it’s ok. It wasn’t like we going to talk about that with…” he trailed off, seeming to think of something midsentence. “Anyway, how was your -”

“With what?” Tony narrowed his eyes. Peter knew how much he detested to be left hanging. Especially when he cared, which he always did if it had to do with Peter.

“Well, just…” Peter grimaced a little and sighed defeatedly. “I mean, Harry sat with us so we weren’t -”

Tony tipped his head back with an exasperated groan. “Why do you have to hang out with that guy?”

“That's why I wasn’t going to say anything,” Peter told him plainly.

“No, no,” Tony straightened and turned to look at Peter. “I’d rather know and not like it than not know. Because I’d still know, even if I never heard details. And that would worry me even more because I wouldn’t have enough information if something happened. Which it probably will and it’ll be helpful to know things. So don’t feel like you can’t mention him around me.”

Peter stared blankly at Tony. “You’re weird. And judgy. Stop being judgy.”

“‘Judgmental’,” Tony corrected, smirked. “It should probably be ‘judgmental’.”

“Don’t correct me if you’re going to say it should ‘probably’ be your way,” Peter told him with playfully narrowed eyes. “Because that implies that you don’t even know.”

“Yeah, ok,” Tony shook his head with a smile. “So, what else happened? Learn anything?”

Peter smiled back and raised an eyebrow. “Eh, not really. First of all, it’s only the first day so we’re mostly learning about _what_ we’re going to learn. Second, I’ve been reading ahead, remember? I don’t really feel like I learn that much at school. I do most of my actual learning on my own time. Except I _did_ learn that Mary Jane is going vegan for a week starting today. Apparently because she’s bored and that’s somehow going to fix that?”

“Do you think you could graduate early?” Tony asked curiously, tilting his head to the side.

“I don’t know, maybe. Ok, well probably,” he corrected himself. “Some of my teachers have said I should at least try. Or even just skip a year and go into my senior year now.”

Tony had expected him to keep talking but he apparently wasn’t planning to. “Well, why don’t you then?”

The teenager looked up at him like he’d grown another head. “Seriously?”

“What am I missing here?” Tony asked blankly.

Peter sighed and sat up, pulling his legs back to himself in the process. “If I do that, I’ll have to leave my friends.”

“Well, you could go to college sooner.”

“Without my friends,” Peter countered; still looking at Tony like this was the most obvious thing in the world. “I don’t want to do that. I’d rather go _with_ them.”

Tony nodded, understanding even if he couldn’t quite relate to it. He’d never had friends like that growing up. “Yeah, but lots of school friends end up going different places when they graduate. So you might not even end up at the same school anyway.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Peter told him in a matter-of-fact tone. “We’d still at least be in the same situation, you know? So when we get together to hang out we’ll all be experiencing the same things still instead of them dealing with college and me already working or something. We already don’t share all the same experiences anymore with Spider-Man. And, I mean, now there’s you.”

“What about me?” Tony asked, not sure if he should be offended or not.

“Nothing, just… I live somewhere super different now and you’re going to be my dad and you’re… _you_. They’re parents are nothing like you so we won’t be able to relate with things like that, you know? I just… don’t want our lives to be completely different. And we’re actually all thinking about the same college so there’s a good chance we’ll be there together. And if we don’t, we’ll probably be close since none of us want to leave the city for school.”

Tony cocked his head. “You don’t? I mean, I know it might be more expensive but I don’t care. I’ll pay for you to go wherever you want. You don’t have to stay in the city.”

Peter frowned and looked away. He didn’t say anything and Tony wondered what he’d said wrong. He was about to ask when Peter looked back at him again. “Do you want me to? Like… do you want me to go somewhere else for school? I can find a school somewhere else if you want me to.”

Tony’s eyes widened, his response immediate. “Peter, I’m not saying I _want_ you to go away! I’m just saying I don’t want you to think you have to stay in the city.”

“Yeah, but if you _were_ saying that, I’d do it,” Peter told him. “I don’t want to be in your way so I’ll -”

“Hey, stop,” Tony cut him off, flicking a hand in front of him. “You know that’s not what I’m saying so stop talking about it. You really think I’m already thinking about how I’m going to get rid of you and you haven’t even been here a year? If that were the case, adoption would be a very bad idea.”

Peter actually grinned when he heard that, which sort of surprised Tony. “Yeah, that would be pretty stupid, huh? I guess it’s a good thing you want me around.”

“Yes, it is and you better not forget it,” Tony said with a finger pointed in Peter’s direction. He stood up sort of suddenly and looked down at Peter. “Do you want ice cream? I want ice cream.”

“I _always_ want ice cream,” Peter answered, eyes following the older man as he walked across the room.

Tony swung the freezer door open and looked through it, a frown forming on his face. “We’re running low,” he said as he reached in and grabbed two. “Black cherry ok?”

Peter groaned and dropped his head back melodramatically. “I hate it,” he whined softly, drawing out the last word for an unreasonable length of time.

“Fine, you can have the fudge brownie,” Tony replied with a just as dramatic roll of his eyes as he walked back over and dropped the ice cream carton on Peter’s chest, leaning over and placing the spoon in his mouth when he laughed. “I swear, you’re such a baby. You could just say, ‘no, I don’t want that’, like a normal person.”

“Why do anything like a normal person?” Peter asked cheerfully, sitting up and opening his ice cream after he’d pulled the spoon from his mouth. “I’m not one and we teenagers are often encouraged to embrace who we are and not let society tell us what to be.”

“Which makes no sense with the amount of rules they still push on everyone,” Tony agreed, nodding just barely. “‘Be yourself as long it’s the way we want you to be,’, right?”

“Exactly!” Peter exclaimed, covering his mouth with his hand so he wouldn’t spit out his ice cream. “It’s completely stupid, right?”

“Yeah, but the point is that you should stop acting like a three year old because you’re sixteen and it’s absurd,” Tony smirked, enjoying the unamused stare he got in return. “See, you thought you could get away from the subject but you can’t. We’re going to need to talk about your unfortunate maturity levels.”

Peter responded with a weak kick to Tony’s thigh, which was closest since Peter was still sitting sideways on the couch.

“Case in point,” Tony grinned and kept eating his ice cream. “Star Wars?”

“I don’t know. Which ones?” Peter asked, mostly focused at that point on digging out the brownie bits with his spoon.

“Whichever,” Tony replied nonchalantly, watching as Peter piled the brownie pieces on the lid of the carton, which he’d set on the coffee table.

“I’m saving them for last,” Peter explained, noticing Tony watching but not actually looking up. “And let’s do Episode Six.”

“Five,” Tony countered, looking toward the tv and finding the movie. “And that’s weird, by the way. You’re supposed to eat it all together.”

Peter rolled his eyes but grinned. “First, don’t say ‘whichever’ if you don’t mean it. Second, it’s not that weird. I’m just making it more delicious.”

“It’s already delicious, kid,” Tony said as he started the movie. “I hardly think they’d approve a flavor for the shelves if it needed more work to make it good. If you were supposed to eat the brownie and ice cream separately, they’d sell it that way.”

“That’s a good idea. I should start an ice cream company and sell them with separate containers of stuff like brownie and cookie bits so you can eat them separately or mix them up.”

“Why would you buy them separated and then mix them when you could just buy normal brownie ice cream and not be required to put in work to make it edible?” Tony cocked his head at him, eyebrows pinched curiously.

“It’s edible either way. And because some people enjoy stirring things up. That’s why people put salt and pepper in their leftover salsa and sour cream at restaurants and stir in all up and stuff. Now shut up,” Peter said, kicking him again. “You’re making me miss the opening crawl.”

“Who _does_ that?” Tony exclaimed, looking slightly horrified at the notion. Peter just shushed him but laughed while he did it.

Tony realized that their conversations were a little weird. But if they were happy, he figured it was ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say here, I guess. ;D Thanks for reading!
> 
> I'm on Tumblr, in case anyone wants to find me there. I've only just started really using my account recently so I thought I'd mention it. ^-^ You can find my url on my profile here.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

The first week of school could be summed up in only one word for Peter.

_Long._

Ned had been right about everyone loving Harry. He became one of the more popular kids at school pretty quickly but what surprised Peter was that it didn’t really matter how many people wanted to be friends with him. Each day, Harry sat with Peter, Ned, and Mary Jane.

Unfortunately, some of the other kids just decided they’d sit with them too. Liz was the first one to do it and peter was fairly certain she had a crush on Harry. There were a few other kids who Peter didn’t know that well and then Flash.

Flash sat as close to Peter as he could, which had been right next to him for the first couple days that he sat with them. After that, Ned and Mary Jane sat on either side of him so that Flash couldn’t.

Peter was seated pretty close to Flash in a few classes and had never cared that much about it. He was annoying, sure, but he didn’t really do anything other than glare at him sometimes are mutter things under his breath.

But now it was torture.

Flash had started breathing just a little too loudly and tapping things constantly. He had suddenly begun shifting his papers around incessantly even if he had no reason to. One of his favorite things to do at lunch was blow air through a straw directly at the back of Peter’s neck when he walked behind on his way to sit down. Sometimes he’d “accidentally’ kick Peter’s ankles under the table.

Basically, Flash was going out of his way to make _just_ a little more noise than normal. He had noticed that Peter was more sensitive to things like that than most people in just one week that had become Flash’s _new_ favorite game.

On the plus side, Peter figured that might mean he wouldn’t speed up each time Peter walked past his car.

Worse than that, there never seemed to be any news regarding the adoption. Peter was more than ready to just get it all settled and get past the agonizing period of everyone trying to play twenty questions with him.

One definite plus to the week had been that he convinced Wanda to let him show her some of his favorite video games. Tony had had to go to an Avengers meeting and Peter and Wanda had played video games the entire time. They even went online and played with Ned for a little while, which Ned obviously thought was awesome.

Wanda had enjoyed it and decided to keep playing even after Peter went home. So for the rest of the week, the three of them played video games together before bed, talking through the headsets.

Another plus was that Tony hadn’t been quite as annoyed about Peter hanging out with Harry, though he still definitely was not happy about it.

They actually let Harry play video games with them one night but he hadn’t been very good at it and didn’t really want to try again after that. Peter didn’t mind. He kinda thought Harry had only wanted to try because he wanted to fit in.

And then there was Friday night. Peter couldn’t decide if Friday night had been a great end to his week or a horrible one.

It’s always sort of a shock to have the lights in your room turn on at two in the morning so it couldn’t have been a much of a surprise to Tony when Peter reacted by bolting upright with flailing arms.

“Hey! Calm down,” Tony said, grabbing Peter’s shoulders and trying to get him to stop moving. “It’s just me.”

Peter had squeezed his eyes shut against the bright lights and was trying to catch his breath. He stopped moving though and let Tony hold him still. He opened his eyes just slightly to look at Tony in utter confusion. “What are you doing? Is something wrong?”

“No,” was all Tony said before he let go of Peter and stood up from the bed. “Just get up. We’re going out.”

“We’re… what?”

“Come on, hurry. We’ve got things to do,” Tony told him brightly as he left the room without turning the lights back off, much to Peter’s disappointment.

As much as he wanted to go back to sleep, Peter forced himself to slide out of bed and pull on some sweatpants and a hoodie, shoving his feet into a worn out pair of sneakers without bothering to put on socks. He didn’t brush his teeth or even attempt to fix his messy hair. When he got out to the kitchen though, Tony used his fingers to comb the hair back out of Peter’s face. Besides that, apparently Tony wasn’t concerned about his appearance.

Tony himself was dressed in a pair of dirty workshop jeans and a tshirt over a gray long sleeved undershirt. He had a baseball cap on, which Peter wasn’t really used to seeing. He stood hunched over at the counter writing on a pad of paper.

“Ok, kid, go wait in the car,” Tony said casually, waving him off. “I’m finishing this list.”

“List of what?” Peter asked groggily, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles.

“Shoo,” Tony said, raising his eyebrows at him. “I’ll be right there.”

Peter nodded and turned around, misjudging the distance to the elevator door and nearly walking into the wall. He sighed and ignored Tony’s laughter as he went down to the garage level.

He didn’t realize that he’d fallen asleep leaning against the side of the elevator until FRIDAY decided to help out.

“You’re on your floor now,” she said, her tone chipper. In moments like these, Peter hated that Tony had given her that ability. “Figured it might be time to stop snoring.”

“ _Wasn’t_ ,” Peter grumbled as he shuffled out of the elevator, proceeded to lean against the wall next to it instead. “I don’t know which -”

“Doesn’t matter,” FRIDAY interrupted. Yet another thing Peter wished she couldn’t do. “Any of them will do.”

On a normal day, Peter might’ve picked a car based on comfort levels. Or perhaps just by whichever looked cooler. But then, he just went for the closest one to avoid having to walk any more than he absolutely had to.

By the time Tony got there, which was only about five minutes after Peter had buckled his seatbelt, the teenager was slumped against the window and out cold. Tony laughed a little and decided to let him sleep, leaving the music off for the time being.

That, of course, only lasted until they got to their destination. Then, as soon as the car was parked, Tony turned AC/DC on full blast and Peter jolted awake.

“Why?” He all but wailed at Tony, falling forward so he was folded in half with his head between his knees.

Tony shut off the car, which silenced the music. “Come on, time to get out,” he announced, poking Peter’s side.

“Where are we?” Peter questioned, making no moves to actually exit the car let alone sit up.

“The store. You need new clothes.”

 _That_ was when Peter sat up. He straightened suddenly, hitting his head somehow. Tony really didn’t understand how he’d managed to do that…

“Are you serious? You woke me up _before the sun_ to make me buy _clothes_?”

“Well, yeah,” Tony replied, getting out of his side of the car. He went around to the other side and opened Peter’s door where he’d already let his eyes close again. Tony reached over and unbuckled Peter’s seat belt, holding his arms and pulling him out and onto his feet. “Come on and wake up, kid. We want to be in and out before the sun comes up.”

Peter sighed and forced his eyes to flutter open. He nodded slowly and let Tony drag him into the store. There was no one else inside besides a couple employees, who were just sitting around on their phones. One of them was sitting cross legged on the floor and leaning against a table of men’s jeans. He seemed to be taking a nap.

Peter was jealous of that guy.

A girl who had been restacking some boxes saw the two of them and rushed up to them with a smile. “Hello! Is there anything you need help finding?”

“No thanks,” Tony said, flashing a smile. “We’re just looking for some new school clothes.”

“Well, let someone know if you need any help,” she said cheerily, going back to the boxes.

“What’s just so happy about?” Peter mumbled, raising an eyebrow at Tony. His eyes were still barely open.

“When you go shopping this time of day,” Tony explained. “Half of them are just glad to half something to do so they’re nicer than usual. The other half wants to be asleep and it’s smarter to leave them alone or else they’ll probably overcharge you or something because they’re in a bad mood. Like you right now,” he winked and shoved Peter in the direction of the direction of the casual men’s clothing.

Peter rolled his eyes and stood with crossed arms while Tony started looking through the jeans, ignoring the guy on the floor. “Why do you sound like this is normal for you?”

“Because it is,” Tony answered, picking up a few pairs and handing them to Peter. “Hold these a second. I come here early in the morning all the time. Less crowds means less people who recognize me. It also means you can pretty much take as much as you time as you want or be as fast as you want. It’s low stress.”

“It’s also miserable, though,” Peter groaned, sighing tiredly again. He still had his arms crossed but now held the jeans Tony had handed him against his chest.

“It isn’t once you get used to doing it,” Tony smiled, handing him another pair.

Peter looked down at the guy on the floor and wished he could trade places with him. “How often do you do this?”

“Oh, you know, whenever we need to restock on anything or if I want some new casual clothes,” Tony shrugged. He held a pair of jeans up and looked at them consideringly. “I’ve never seen you wear any this shade. You like ‘em?”

“No,” Peter huffed. “You already gave me three. Can we go now?”

“Of course not,” Tony told him, looking at him like he’d said something exceptionally stupid. “We need to get different colors and sizes and brands because you’re too out of to tell me what you like so I’m guessing. Then you have to go try every one of them on and tell me which ones we’re getting. And that’s just the jeans. We’re doing the same thing with everything else. No, you don’t have enough,” Tony exclaimed when Peter tried to argue. “Even after I got all your clothes from May, you don’t have enough and everyone gets new clothes at the start of the school year.”

Peter didn’t say anything and when Tony looked at him he realized that the kid’s eyes had closed again. Shaking his head, Tony just kept looking through the clothes until he thought he had enough. At least to start, anyway.

“Ok, kid, we’re going to the dressing rooms,” Tony declared and started walking, not waiting for Peter, who stumbled behind him and moaned quietly.

“But I’m really, really tired, Dad,” he protested when Tony shoved him into a dressing room with an armload of clothes.

Tony smiled fondly and ruffled his messy hair. “I know. Just be fast and then you can go back to bed when we get back, ok?”

Peter nodded as the door shut and dropped everything on the small bench. He kicked off his shoes and didn’t really worry about it when one of them rolled out under the door. He didn’t care when Tony kicked it back either.

Apparently pulling off his pants was a bit of a chore in his half asleep state as he fell on the floor twice. Both times he was met with Tony’s laughter outside. “Shut up,” was his grumbled response each time.

Some of the jeans didn’t even make it all the way up before Peter chucked them over the door with an annoyed declaration along the lines of, “too scratchy”, “really baggy”, or “you’re crazy if you think I’m gonna wear that”. The ones he liked got tossed over too and he mostly just made some kind of affirmative noise like he couldn’t bring himself to actually admit that Tony had picked something he liked.

A few times, he didn’t say anything and nothing flew over the door. Tony didn’t really have to ask why.

Tony banged his fist rapidly on the door. “Peter, wake up!”

“Why?” He moaned but kept going anyway.

Tony had found maybe thirty pairs of jeans for him to try on and he liked seven of them. Once he’d gotten his sweatpants back on he’d tried to come out but Tony had pushed him back it and handed him close to fifty shirts.

“Dad?” Peter practically whimpered while he was halfway in the twenty-eighth shirt. He’d been keeping count, whether or not it was completely accurate.

Tony smiled and looked up at the door. He’d been leaning back against the wall and playing games on his phone while he waited. “Yeah, Peter?” His smile grew a little. Peter had never called him ‘Dad’ more than once that close together.

“Can we have ice cream when we get home?”

“Sure,” Tony laughed loudly. He’d been expecting something closer to “can we go home now?” so he’d been a little surprised by the question. “We’ll have ice cream if you’re even still awake by the time we get to the tower.”

“Thanks,” he said, yawning but starting to sound just a little more awake as he got back to trying on shirts. “This one feels like prickly leaves.”

“Not just prickly?”

“ _No_ , specifically like prickly leaves,” Peter insisted, throwing the shirt over. Tony caught it and folded it up patiently.

“Ok, kid,” Tony chuckled, making a mental note to definitely do this again soon.

Peter stood bent over with his face buried in his arms, which were folded on the small checkout counter while Tony paid for all the clothes. He didn’t react when tony said they were going to go back later that weekend to restock on food so Tony figured he just hadn’t heard him.

He could barely find the handle of the car door on his own so Tony had to get him in. By the time he got around to his own seat, Peter was already sleeping, his head tipped over to his left shoulder.

Tony smiled again and made sure Peter was buckled before driving back to the tower. He wasn’t waking up once they’d parked so Tony just carried him up to his room, figuring he could go back and get the bags from the car later on. Peter still wasn’t awake when Tony tugged off his shoes and draped a blanket over him. And he _still_ didn’t wake up when Tony brushed the hair from his forehead again and left the room, shutting the door softly behind him.

They didn’t eat any ice cream that night.

-

On Wednesday evening of the second week of school, Tony and Peter got a call from Clint Barton.

Apparently, they’d been trying to keep tabs on the Goblin but hadn’t had much luck since he’d been keeping out of sight if he’d been out at all. But Clint had found some murmurs online about strange things going on in Oscorp and after he’d heard that Peter thought the Goblin was connected to the company, he’d been keeping an eye on them.

No one knew what had happened exactly and Clint wanted Tony and Peter to come to the compound to look at what had been found.

Peter worked on school all through the drive and gave Tony firm instructions not to talk to him until they got there. If Tony talked to him, he’d get distracted. If he got distracted, he wouldn’t finish his school. Therefore, Tony was not allowed to talk.

He brought his backpack in with him since he knew there was a decent chance they’d stay for dinner and he thought maybe he could get some work done then too.

But there was no time for school when they first got there. Clint was right in front of them as soon as they came inside and got straight to what he wanted to say.

“Do you know anything about an Oscorp scientist dying recently?”

Tony and Peter glanced uncertainly at each other and then shook their heads at Clint.

He nodded and gave them a ‘follow me’ gesture before leading them to the conference room. No one else was there but Clint had some files and a tablet already spread out on the table.

“Ok. We think Oscorp - or just _someone_ \- is covering this up,” he began, gesturing at everything. “I don’t know if this is at all connected to all of your Goblin stuff but it could be so it’s worth looking into. And regardless of how connected it is or isn’t, it seemed pretty shady to me.”

“Well, that’s Osborn,” Tony muttered, sneering as he said the name. He leaned forward to do a quick scan of everything on the conference table. A lot of it looked like scans of files that had never been meant to see that of day. Clint must have done some serious digging to get it all.

“What is it?” Peter asked, looking over Tony’s shoulder.

“This guy has worked for Oscorp for nearly seventeen years,” Clint informed them, taking a seat to the side of the files. “But now he’s dead and there’s hardly anything on it. In fact, things in Oscorp that he had direct ties to have started being altered; making it harder for him to be researched. Like they’re trying to make him… not nonexistent but insignificant, maybe.”

“Why?” Peter furrowed his eyebrows and picked up a picture of the man. He thought he looked vaguely familiar.

“No idea,” Clint admitted. “But no one’s reporting anything on his death and it wasn’t exactly _normal_.”

Tony and Peter looked over at Clint almost nervously. Neither of them were sure what they about to hear but they knew it couldn’t be good.

Peter reached for the sleeve of his hoodie and tugged it slowly down over his hand.

“His autopsy report was nearly impossible to get our hands on but we managed it,” Clint said, grabbing the printed sheet and sliding it in front of Tony. “They think he was… strangled. But there are strange puncture wounds and scratches. It’s like it was some kind of animal but they have no idea what it could’ve been and there’s just… _nothing_.”

Peter looked down at the paper over Tony’s shoulder tried to decide if he wanted to actually read it or not.

_Breathe. Breathe._

“They’re trying to cover it up but we _know_ that it happened in Oscorp’s labs,” Clint continued, looking between the two of them. “That’s why I thought of your Goblin guy. This doesn’t seem quite human or quite animal either and, well, neither does he. And you did say you thought he had something to do with them. So… what are you thinking?”

Tony nodded slowly and turned his head, intending to ask Peter what he was thinking. Peter dropped heavily into the chair next the Tony’s and took a deep steadying breath. Tony reached over under the table and held Peter’s arm.

“I’d say it’s definitely worth looking into,” Tony told him, shrugging a little. “What else do you guys have?”

Clint and Tony kept talking but Peter completely tuned them out. He tried to focus on the comforting and grounding feeling of Tony’s thumb rubbing circles into his arm but it only helped for a little while. Eventually he just had to press his forehead against Tony’s shoulder and make himself breathe while he waited for the conversation to be over.

Tony tried to ask if they needed to leave a couple times but Peter insisted that he was fine and they could keep on talking but they shouldn’t expect him to pay attention. That was just too much at the moment. Thankfully, Clint didn’t ask any questions. He actually didn’t even seem fazed by it.

Once Clint had covered everything he had, he left Tony and Peter alone in the room and shut the door behind him, even if it didn’t really make much of a difference with all the windows allowing anyone who walked by to look in.

When Peter still hadn’t moved after five minutes, Tony looked down at him, trying his hardest not to move too much and disturb the teenager.

“Hey,” Tony started softly. “Can you tell me what exactly the problem is here?”

“No,” was all Peter said.

“Why not?”

Peter shrugged and seemed to try and push his forehead even tighter against the man’s shoulder. “Because I don’t know. I don’t know why I’m so freaked out. I guess because it’s Oscorp.”

Tony was tempted to respond with something like, “and yet _you_ wanted to go there a week and half ago.” But of course, he didn’t say that. Instead, he nodded. “Right. How much did you get out of all that?”

“Not much,” Peter admitted, his words mumbled.

“That’s ok. I’ll fill you in later when you’re ready to talk about it.”

Peter nodded against Tony, which made his hair stand up funny in the front. “Tony?”

“Yeah?” Tony responded, letting Peter’s head stay where it was as he looked over some of the papers again. Clint had told him he could take whatever he wanted with him. Tony had been going to just ask him to give it to him digitally so FRIDAY could store it but if it had been so difficult to get their hands on, Tony thought putting it back online - even if FRIDAY was very hard to hack - wasn’t the best plan. They probably didn’t want anyone finding out what information they had.

“I’m confused…” There was no response so Peter kept going. “Is the Goblin… I mean, what is he doing?”

“What do you mean?” Tony asked. “You’re probably going to have to be a little more specific there.”

Peter finally sat up then, sighing and shoving a hand through his hair to try and get it to go back down. “Well, is he working with Osborn or against him? Because I thought he was _with_ him before when I fought him. But then why would he kill one of their scientists?”

“Yeah, and why are they trying to cover it up?” Tony added, still looking through the papers.

“I thought Clint said they don’t know if it’s Oscorp or -”

“It’s Oscorp, Peter, come on,” Tony cut him off with a flat look. “When are they _not_ doing something suspicious? Literally everything connected to them is suspicious and probably evil. Nothing good ever came out of Oscorp.”

“If you think about it,” Peter smirked slowly, knowing full well that Tony had not been trying to say what he was about to bring up. “ _Spider-Man_ came out of Oscorp so -” He was interrupted by a small stack of papers flapping in his face. He laughed and leaned out of the way.

“You’re annoying,” Tony declared as he tapped the sides of the stack against the table to keep them even before setting them back down. “But I like you anyway.”

“It’s the small things,” Peter grinned.

Tony made certain that Peter was totally ok before they left the conference room. He stacked all the papers up and slid them into one folder together, tucking it under his arm.

Bucky seemed to materialize in front of them the moment they stepped out the door. Tony really wondered how he’d managed to sneak up on them while they’d been in a glass room.

“Barnes,” Tony greeted, his tone not giving away any kind of emotion.

“Hey, Bucky.” Peter smiled cheerfully and Tony was suddenly curious how Peter would’ve reacted had Bucky walked into the room when Peter had been keeping his head down. “How are you doing?”

Bucky shrugged casually and made a noncommittal expression. “Could be worse, I figure. Have you been doing ok?”

“He’s been just fine,” Tony cut in and Peter sighed with a patient smile. “What do you need, Barnes?”

“Clint said to tell you we’re starting dinner if you want to stick around. No pun intended.” He looked down at Peter with something almost like a grin. “We’re having chicken. Steve was talking about baking a frozen apple pie after.”

“That sounds terrible,” Tony deadpanned but then looked down at Peter, waiting to see if he seemed interested. He only shrugged but didn’t look that enthralled with the idea so Tony turned back to Bucky again. “We’ll pass. Besides, I have no interest in eating a frozen microwave pie. That is disgusting. Would it kill you people to buy a real pie?”

Bucky didn’t react; Tony was honestly a little disappointed. People who didn’t react were less fun. More of a challenge though… “Well, what about sometime next week? You two aren’t around much. I think we’d all like to see you more.”

Peter nodded at that, giving Tony a pointed look. “Yeah, we should plan something.”

Tony sighed defeatedly. “Yeah, ok. We’ll get in touch.” He held Peter’s shoulders and guided him toward the front door. “We’ve got good food to eat at home so we’re just gonna head out now.”

“Bye, Bucky,” Peter chuckled but let Tony steer him out of the building. Bucky said a quiet goodbye and shut the door behind them once they’d gotten to their car.

Tony could never decide how he felt about spending at the compound. On the one hand, they were his team and his friends, which meant he should probably be around more. And he did want to, at least to some degree. But on the other hand, there were a lot of them at that point and it got a little tiring trying to keep up with everyone. And he wasn’t always on exactly the best terms with everyone either.

Now that he had Peter to think about, he was somehow both _less_ inclined and _more_ inclined to go to the compound more often.

One thing he knew for certain was that he had more fun sitting on the couch with Peter and watching sci-fi shows all through dinner. No stress that way and definitely no drama. At least nothing that was going to make things awkward or difficult somehow.

It was all… manageable when it came to things between Tony and Peter. It didn’t really feel that way with the Avengers sometimes.

And besides, if they wanted to figure out what was going on with this Goblin character then they had start taking a closer look at the research Clint had done for them; maybe take it all a step or two further if they could. Tony was willing to bet they would be able to. But just not if they spent the evening eating stupid frozen pie with a bunch of loud super heroes. Especially since not all them were Tony’s idea of desirable company at the moment.

Tony was just as ready as Peter for everything to be done and for the waiting to be over. It was enough to worry about already without having to sit around a table with some people who were supportive and some who were... well, just _not_. If Peter had wanted to, Tony would’ve stayed for the evening. But he wasn’t complaining that he’d been in the mood to go home too.

And that night, they _did_ have ice cream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this chapter was really fun to write! XD I hope you liked it!
> 
> I've decided that, starting now, on one chapter weeks I'm going to recommend fics to you guys. So this week I'm recommending After the War by grilledcheesing! I haven't been able to figure out how to link things so, until I do, you'll just have to search it! ;D Anyway... After the War is one of my current favorite fics on the site! It's very well written and gives me all the feels but more than that it's just so unique! There are plenty of premises that I see and read a lot of in this fandom and I have no problem with that. It's stuff I enjoy reading and writing and I'm not complaining about it. But it's so fun to find a really original idea that's executed so well on top of being something new! And that's totally something that can be said about After the War. I highly recommend it!


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six

“Hey, Parker!”

Peter stopped in his tracks just before he got to the bottom of the steps outside the school. His grip on the straps of his backpack tightened.

He didn’t know _why_ he stopped, really. It wasn’t as if Flash would do anything to him if he just kept walking. And yet, nearly every time, Peter stopped walking.

Turning around slowly, he tried to put on a neutral face. “What’s up, Flash?”

“I just wanted to talk to you about something in chemistry class.” His tone was far too friendly and Peter backed away without even thinking about it. Flash just walked with him. “I’ve just been noticing… you seem kinda… oh, what’s the word?”

“I don’t know,” Peter shrugged, still trying not to give anything away with his expression or body language. He didn’t like for Flash to know how uncomfortable he made him. It just made it worse. “If you can’t even think of what you’re trying to say, maybe we can talk tomorrow morning,” he suggested, starting to walk away. “I have… stuff I need to do so -”

“Well, hang on a minute,” Flash put up a hand to pause him and they both stopped moving. They were right by the picnic tables that sat under some trees in the grass. “Let’s just sit down and talk.”

Peter shook his head slowly and tugged at his backpack straps for something to do. He wanted to call Tony but what he supposed to do exactly?

“Oh, I thought of the word,” Flash grinned. “ _Twitchy._ Actually, now that I think about it, you’ve been real twitchy since school started. What’s up with that?”

Peter glared at Flash, choosing not to say anything. He had no idea what Flash was even trying to get out of this.

The other boy moved closer to him but unless he wanted to walk around the tree, Peter couldn’t really put any more distance between them. All the other students were pouring by them, chattering amongst themselves and making Peter want to curl in on himself.

_Too many sounds._

Then Flash was shaking the water bottle in his hand just enough for it to make a soft splashing noise most people would’ve hardly noticed. But Peter noticed and visibly flinched when he glanced down at it in Flash’s hand.

“Seriously?” Flash laughed, raising his eyebrows. “It’s _water_ , Parker? Are you scared of water now? I swear, you are _such_ a loser!”

“Flash, I’m serious,” Peter said, forcing himself to look up from the bottle and trying his hardest to hide how hard it was becoming to breathe. “I have to get home. Quit messing with me.”

“No, you _are_ scared of water, aren’t you? What even was that at the end of last year? Was that was some kind of, like, _attack_ or something?”

Peter sighed and looked away, clenching his jaw. He tuned out the sound of Flash’s continued laughter and focused on breathing instead.

_In and out._

“What’s wrong, Parker? Forgot how to talk? I asked you a question.”

“Geez, Flash, leave him alone for five minutes, yeah?”

Peter looked up sharply. It was Liz Allan.

Liz had dated Flash for almost an entire school year. Unfortunately, it had been around the time that Peter had a crush on her and it had apparently been more obvious than he’d hoped. Flash had clearly known Peter liked Liz and it only made him hate Peter more. He didn’t know if Liz had noticed. There was a large chance that she hadn’t but she’d never said anything, which was nice. Less embarrassing that way.

“ _Really_ , Liz?” Flash practically snarled. “Let us have a conversation without butting in and trying to micromanage everyone you see.”

“‘Micromanage’?” Liz raised an eyebrow at him, her expression stern and incredibly unimpressed. “I’m just trying to defend Peter because I don’t know _what_ this is, but it isn’t a conversation.”

“I’m ok,” Peter spoke up. “Thanks for trying to help but I’m… ok.” He shrugged unconvincingly.

“Yeah, well…” Liz looked him up and down, lips pursed and eyebrows drawn together. Then she turned to Flash again. “Maybe you should just leave Peter alone now, ok? I wanted to ask him about something in my notes.”

Flash rolled his eyes and scoffed, still shaking around his water bottle.

_Breathe._

“Whatever, Liz,” Flash said, casting Peter a disdainful and calculating glare as he walked away. He tossed the water bottle in the air and caught it as he walked by Peter, timing it just right so that it would pass right by Peter’s head. The were a good chance that he did it purely to see the way Peter flinched away from it as his breath caught in his throat.

Peter was really ready for the day to be over…

He could still hear Flash laughed as he walked to his car when Liz gestured for him to sit down at the picnic table.

Peter sat awkwardly, ready to get up and leave the second he could. He didn’t want to hang around the campus any longer than he had to. His senses had been on edge all day - mostly thanks to one Flash Thompson - and he’d been trying his hardest not to react to it.

Really, Peter had been getting better in the recent months. He was able to control it a little more and he had an easier time reining in his reactions than he had before. Part of it might’ve actually had to do with Flash, as much as Peter hated to think it. Having it be sort of a constant nagging - more than it already was - took away a lot of the shock factor, which made it easier for him to stay calm.

“So,” Peter cleared his throat uncomfortably. “What was it you wanted to ask me about your notes?”

“What?” Liz asked, looking confused for a moment before a look of understanding and amusement washed over her features. “Oh, no,” she laughed softly. “I was just trying to get Flash to go away. That’s all.”

Peter blinked twice, then nodded. “Oh. So can I go then?”

“Well, I guess,” Liz shrugged. “Listen, I’m really sorry about Flash. He’s just…” she looked off in the direction Flash had gone and sighed. “I don’t really understand what his problem is. Especially not when it comes to you. I mean, Peter, you’re so nice and even if you are really quiet and sort of a flake sometimes… well, I just mean that you’re so nice and i don’t get why he treats you the way he does. What was he even doing before I walked over?”

Peter simply shrugged. “Just picking on me, you know? It’s fine.”

“It’s really not. It’s clearly bothering you and you keep flinching around him, which makes me worry that he’s been actually hurting you physically or something. That’s not something I ever thought he’d do but -”

“He’s not,” Peter cut her off, trying his best to make sure she could tell he was being honest.

“Ok,” she said, her eyebrows furrowing again and her mouth forming a barely noticeable frown. “Have you talked to your aunt? If she knew Flash was giving you such a hard time, I’m sure she could talk to Mr. Morita or something. Maybe they could do something.”

“Nope,” was all Peter said. He _really_ wanted to end this conversation and go home. He was breathing easier then but still… he was ready to leave.

“Maybe you should then,” Liz said seriously. She sounded worried and looked like she was trying to look into his head and figure him out. It was almost like what Mary Jane did except that Liz was only _trying_ to whereas Peter was pretty convinced Mary Jane could really manage it. “Technically, he’s bullying you. Whether he’s hitting you are not, it’s bullying. And your aunt needs to know about it so she can -”

“No, she doesn’t,” Peter interrupted suddenly, surprising himself too. His eyes widened slightly but he kept going. “I’m not… we’re not talking much right now.”

_Why? Why did that seem like a good thing to say? It wasn’t!_

“Oh,” Liz said quietly, her concerned expression deepening. “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah,” Peter assured her, making himself try to smile. “No, everything’s… you know. It’s all find. I just… I don’t really - I mean… Well, I don’t know you - like, just not very well, is what I mean. So I don’t know… how much I want to talk to you about, you know? But I promise I’m ok, all right? Like, I’d tell you that. If I weren’t ok, I mean. Really. I would tell you.”

_Geez, shut up, Peter._

Liz nodded, looking more confused now than anything else. “Well, ok. I just want to help. You know that, right, Peter?”

“Totally,” Peter nodded rapidly. “But, listen, I really need to get going. I have things at home that I need to do so… yeah.” He stood up from the table and shifted his backpack on his shoulders.

“Ok,” Liz smiled widely. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye, Peter!”

Peter offered a quick smile and walked away. He saw Mary Jane still hanging around the school pretty nearby the table he’d been at but she barely acknowledged him when he tried to talk to her so he just kept going. Ned had left school early for a dentist appointment so Peter had to walk home on his own.

As soon as he was far enough from the school, he pulled out his phone and called Tony. he picked up almost immediately but not as fast as he did when Peter used the Dad Phone.

“ _Hey, kid,_ ” Tony said, his smile actually audible in his words. “ _You heading home yet?_ ”

“Yep,” Peter said, feeling his mood lighten just by hearing Tony’s voice through the phone. “Ned’s not here so I’m walking home alone. School sucked today.”

“ _Yeah? Why’s that?_ ” If he had to guess, Peter thought it sounded like Tony was in his workshop.

“Well, Flash is a total jerk. He won’t stop making noise around me. He was shaking a water bottle in my face and wouldn’t let me leave school,” Peter explained. “I’m ok,” he assured before Tony could ask. “But it was super annoying and just makes stuff harder, you know?”

Tony hummed, seemingly agreeing with Peter had said. “ _He can’t make you stay at school if you don’t want to. You know that, right?_ ”

“Yeah, in theory,” Peter sighed and stopped walking once he reached the crosswalk. The light was red so he leaned against the pole while he waited it out. “I don’t want to stop walking but I just do. It’s stupid.”

“ _No,_ ” Tony disagreed, his tone still pleasant. “ _Not stupid. Just another thing to get past. And you will so it’s ok, all right?_ ”

“Yeah,” Peter said, nodding even with no one to see it. The light changed and he hurried across the street. “Can we talk about something else though? Like… what are you doing right now?”

“ _Designing some upgrades for your webshooters,_ ” Tony answered and Peter was grateful that he didn’t ask any questions or argue. Peter asked to change the subject and he let him. It was simple and even though it was just a small thing, it reminded Peter of how comfortable he was around Tony. That and how impatient he was feeling…

“That’s cool. I’ll be there in, like, fifteen minutes,” Peter told him. “Can I see when I get home?”

“ _Always, kid,_ ” Tony told him. Peter could hear the smile again and it made him smile too.

-

The next day was worse, which sort of surprised Peter and sort of didn’t. You know, Parker luck and all that. He wondered if that would maybe stop soon…

Flash was about the same, so he wasn’t the one who made it any worse than before. It was everyone else.

Ned had stayed home because his mouth was swollen after getting his wisdom teeth pulled. He had texted Peter throughout the day and Peter had been taking notes for him to use later. Ned hated to miss school.

It probably would’ve been ok for Peter if he’d had someone else to hang out with. Unfortunately, Mary Jane was ignoring him and he had no idea why. Meanwhile, Harry had started to show some returned interest in Liz, who wouldn’t stop fussing over Peter.

All through lunch, Harry was trying to start a conversation with Liz and not having much luck. There were two reasons for this.

The first was that Liz was too focused on making sure Peter was ok. Without Ned there, Flash had been able to sit by Peter and was being about as annoying as he could. He was actually managing to get on everyone else’s nerves too. Peter spent most of lunch with his head in his hands.

The second was that Flash had apparently decided that he needed to be friends with Harry. Since he’d become so popular in such a short span of time, he seemed like a good person to be close with. So Flash wouldn’t stop talking to him, even while he was apparently so fixated on driving Peter crazy.

It really would’ve been better if Mary Jane would’ve put down her book and at least spoken more than two words to him…

So Peter was pretty done with everything by the time he got home that day.

“FRIDAY, where’s Tony at?” Peter asked with a loud sigh when he came in the door. He tossed his backpack on the couch and kicked off his shoes without paying enough attention to even notice where they went. He had some homework he wanted to get done but he wasn’t in the mood to worry about it yet.

“He’s in the music room, where he’s been for the past three hours and twenty-eight minutes,” FRIDAY answered him.

Peter stopped and cocked his head to the side. “What music room?” He’d been living in the tower for months and had never even heard of such a room.

“I can direct you to it if you like,” the AI informed him helpfully.

Peter nodded slowly. “Yeah, ok. Let’s do that.”

FRIDAY proceeded to offer directions as Peter walked. It didn’t take long and as he neared the apparent music room, Peter could hear the sounds of a piano. At first, the playing sounded so smooth and experienced that he thought it was a recording playing through the speakers.

As he got closer, he could tell it was someone actually playing the physical instrument. The song wasn’t one he recognized but it sounded nice. It was being played with an amount of feeling Peter had never guessed you could hear in the piano.

“The door on your left,” FRIDAY told him even though he could tell already just by following the sound. He voice was softer, like she didn’t want to be heard by anyone but Peter.

He raised an eyebrow and reached for the doorknob. There was a part of him that already knew what he was going to see when he opened the door but it surprised him anyway.

Tony was sitting at the bench of a shiny grand piano and playing with so much feeling and focus that he didn’t notice Peter stepping and shutting the door behind him.

Just to be sure he didn’t disturb Tony, Peter stayed with his back against the door. He kept his mouth shut and just listened, watching Tony but moving his eyes back and forth between his face and his hands, which were dancing across the keys in confidence

Suddenly, at a point in the song which seemed to be nearing the end, Tony stopped playing altogether and his head turned towards the door. One second, the room had been filed with the sound of the piano and the next there was only an echo of the previous notes drifting away.

“What are you doing in here?” Tony asked. He didn’t sound angry. If anything, he only seemed stunned.

“You can play piano?” Peter asked even though he sort of had an answer already.

“Uh,” Tony looked down at the keys and blinked. “I guess so?”

“What song was that?”

“It was… uh, Movin’ Out. Billy Joel.” He blinked a few more times and then turned to face Peter. “Seriously, what are you doing? I thought you had school.”

Peter shrugged. “I did. It’s out. FRIDAY said you’ve been in here for, like, two and a half hours. So maybe you lost track of time.”

Tony nodded but seemed a little disconnected - like he was trying to figure out how so much time had passed. “Ok.”

“Can you play something else?” Peter asked, smiling excitedly. “Please?”

For a moment, Tony didn’t say anything. His eyebrows furrowed together and he looked like he was considering his answer. “Uh, no. I don’t think so.”

“Come on, Tony,” Peter tried to persuade him. “I’m not leaving the room until you play something else. You do know other songs, right? If you’re that good I really doubt you only know one song.”

“Peter,” he sighed tiredly. “I really don’t play for people.”

“Is that why you didn’t tell me? Come on, _please_.” Peter went and picked up a couple music books, flipping through them and looking at all of Tony’s notes. “See, you know more songs. Just one and I’ll stop bothering you, ok?”

Sighed again, Tony looked down at the keys and shook his head slightly. “Yeah. yeah, ok. Just _one_ song,” he looked over at Peter with a pointed expression. “And if I find out that you told even one person…”

“I won’t,” Peter assured him, grinning as he came and sat on the floor next to Tony’s piano bench.

Tony didn’t play anything for a few minutes. Instead, he flipped through the book he already had open and considered various pages before moving on. Every now and then he would look down at Peter and frown a little before turning back to the piano.

Eventually, he started to play the beginning of a song a little slower than Peter thought it was supposed to go. His playing was a touch for hesitant than before and he kept glancing at Peter out of the corner of his eyes. After a few bars, he stopped looking at Peter altogether and let himself get lost in the music.

When he’d finished the song, Peter’s face split into a grin and he started clapping even though it made Tony glare at him.

“How long have you been playing? Did you have lessons when you were a kid?”

Tony shook his head and shrugged. “No. I pretty much just figured it out. Like driving.” he smiled a little at that. “My mom used to play and I missed it after… well. I just thought I’d try and learn.”

“Can you play anything else?” Peter asked, looking around the large room. It was mostly very open and light but there were various instruments all around. Some hung on the walls and others stood in various places on their stands. One wall was lined with tall bookcases, which had been packed with sheet music for every instrument.

“No,” Tony said with a shake of the head. “I’ve messed around with some of it but I only really play piano. No one uses these but I have them cleaned and tuned regularly. I try to keep them in good shape.”

Peter nodded and looked around again. It all looked pretty expensive but Peter figured it hadn’t made much of a difference to Tony.

“Do you play anything?” Tony asked, raising one eyebrow curiously.

“No,” Peter chuckled. “That kind of thing costs money, Tony.”

“Well, you can use anything in here, you know.” Tony shrugged and stood up from the bench. “Just - I mean, be careful with it but you can use it.”

Peter nodded again. “So… I know I said one song -”

“Peter, I am not playing any more,” Tony interrupted firmly.

“- but I just want to know if that has to be, like, forever,” Peter continued, ignoring Tony’s interruption. “Because I’d like to hear you play again.”

Tony sighed and started walking towards the door. Peter jumped to his feet to follow him out of the room.

“That’s not an answer. You can’t sigh and just not answer.”

“Yes, I can,” Tony smirked over his shoulder. “You can’t make me do anything. You’re a kid. But sure. I guess I’ll play again sometime, ok?”

Peter grinned triumphantly and told FRIDAY to make sure they ha a record of that somewhere. Just in case Tony tried to deny agreeing to it.

-

When the light in Peter’s room came to life just after he’d fallen asleep on Friday night, Peter was about ready to cry. The fact that it had been only one week since Tony had dragged Peter around the store in a ridiculous search for school clothes seemed reason enough not to do it again. They had gotten enough clothes and if Tony really thought that he needed more in _one_ week… well, maybe he was just crazy.

But before he had a chance to say anything about it, he noticed how excited Tony looked. Maybe he was just getting an absurd amount of joy out of waking Peter up _again_ but Peter suspected there was something else going on.

He sat up groggily and ran a hand through his messy hair. “Hey, Tony,” he yawned. “What’s going on?”

Tony came and sat on the edge of Peter’s bed, still wearing a smile on his face. “I’m sorry I’m waking you up. I know you hate that. I just didn’t want to wait to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Peter asked him. He almost thought he should be worried but Tony looked too happy for it to be something bad.

“It’s all set for tomorrow afternoon,” Tony told him. “We just have to go in a sign some papers. May will be there to. Everything’s all set. It’s happening tomorow.”

Peter’s eyes widened when he realized what Tony was talking about. He blinked a couple times and then breathed a laugh. “Really? This isn’t something that can get cancelled, right?”

“I don’t know, but it won’t be,” Tony promised earnestly. “My team just called. They have everything all straightened out and ready to go and it’s going to happen tomorrow.”

Peter felt like he should say something but he was too tired and too happy to think of any words. Instead, he just grabbed Tony and held onto him in a tight hug. He didn’t cry but he sort of thought he might’ve if he’d been a little more awake. But he wasn’t and so there were no tears.

Tony held him just as tight, his fingers weaving through Peter’s hair. He wasn’t really sure… but Peter thought Tony might’ve cried as they sat there like that.

Whenever Tony left the room, Peter couldn’t remember it. They had stayed the way they were long enough that Peter fell back asleep with his face buried against Tony’s shoulder. He assumed that at some point Tony had pulled the blanket back over him and turned out the light. Hopefully, he’d gone to his room and slept after that. But he might’ve been so excited that he couldn’t have gotten any sleep if he tried.

That would maybe explain all the cupcakes he’d _tried_ to make by morning...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so Liz isn't going to be a hug character in this or anything... but I really liked her in Homecoming and I've enjoyed her character in some comics so I just really wanted to include her and we figured she could have a small part. ;D
> 
> Also, Tony secretly being a musician was the idea of one the friends who I write this with. ;D She really liked it and I thought it could work so we put it in. Like Liz, it's not a huge thing but it's there more later on too.


	27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

They were early by forty minutes.

Apparently, so was May.

After an awkward moment of staring at each other, May asked if she and Peter could a minute to talk alone. Once Peter nodded, Tony was ok with it and gave them some space.

There was more staring after that. Neither of them knew what to say.

Then May was hugging Peter and he wasn’t reacting. If anything, he stiffened and though she couldn’t see it, his eyes widened.

But then - after relaxing a moment later - he hugged her back. It was an important kind of hug and not the quick kind you give someone because for some reason you should.

A lot was communicated in that hug. They didn’t even speak while they were alone. It was just one hug and it somehow communicated so much.

They still loved each other and they both knew that. They were also saying goodbye in a way but Peter tried to make sure that she knew it didn’t have to be the end. She would always be his aunt still and he wasn’t going to leave her behind.

Really, she could understand that he meant that then but it wasn’t really clear whether she believed it too.

She was still hesitant and worried and Peter cared… but he also didn’t.

He didn’t want her to be unhappy and he hated to think he had anything to do with it if she wasn’t… but he wasn’t going to try and change anything that was happening. And Tony had helped him get to a point where he didn’t feel so guilty about this anymore.

She was still upset to some degree. Peter didn’t know who or what was upsetting her the most but he knew she wasn’t happy about all of this. She was maybe trying to be ok with it but she wasn’t really.

The important thing was that they didn’t hate one another. Ben wouldn’t have wanted that at all...

Then they were back with Tony and Peter was at a point where he hardly knew what was going on. His head was starting to spin, really. And waiting there between Tony and May was uncomfortable to say the least.

It was as if May was second-guessing the whole thing and as if Tony didn’t trust her not to try and get up and walk away. Tony seemed ready to make her stay if she actually tried to go anywhere, which Peter was pretty sure wouldn’t go over well.

Then there were people Peter didn’t even know and papers and talking and Peter decided to just focus on remembering to breathe and how it was supposed to work.

_In and out._

He had no idea how long they were there because it all became a blur.

He just tried to do and say what he was supposed to and when he was supposed to. If you asked him about it later he could’ve believed that it had taken three hours but also that it had only been ten minutes. It just felt like everything somehow and Peter would never really be able to recollect it clearly.

Tony thought it was sort of funny and wouldn’t ever clear any of it up for Peter. It annoyed Peter a little but never enough for him to really care. After all, it had happened and he knew that. The details weren’t that important anyway.

And he always remembered the end of it more clearly than almost anything.

Once it was all done and everyone else must’ve left without Peter even noticing, Tony pulled Peter into a close hug and that time they both cried. They just stood there and held each other with tears in their eyes. The blur ended when Tony leaned down a little further and spoke.

“You’re my kid now, Peter. You’re my _son._ I love you so much.”

And Peter held him even tighter.

-

Even without everything blurring together around him, Peter was sort of stunned during the ride home. They didn’t talk at all.

Peter just kept trying to remind himself to breathe. He almost couldn’t believe it had actually - _finally_ \- happened. And the way it all blurred by him made it hard to grasp. He couldn’t quite get a hold on the memory of what had just happened so it felt like a dream to him.

But it was real. It had happened.

Peter spent almost the whole drive home watching Tony drive. He had looked up to Tony Stark his entire life and never imagined he’d really _know_ him. He could remember even as little as a year before Tony showed up in his apartment and his dream was to work for SI and maybe - just _maybe_ \- get to shake Tony’s hand someday. And now…

If you had said to Peter at any point in his life up until the past few months that Tony Stark was going to adopt him - become his actual _dad_ … there was no way he would’ve believed that. But it was real.

Tony looked back at him every now and then. He had to keep his eyes on the road but he looked over at Peter nearly every chance he had. He was smiling the entire time, his eyes warm and full of joy. It had really never even occurred to him that he might be a dad one day. He had no idea how to do it and couldn’t help wondering what was going to happen but… he was completely dedicated now. Tony was all in and wasn’t going back.

Neither of them could stop running through it in their heads.

 _Peter Benjamin Stark_.

-

The rest of the day was spent at the tower. When they got back, Happy was waiting for them and got the door for Peter. As soon as he’d stepped out of the car, Happy wrapped him in a quick hug.

“Welcome to the family, kid,” he said quietly, giving a little smile before coughing and walking off to get back to work and look as professional as he could.

Peter grinned after him and waited for Tony so they could head upstairs together. After that, they didn’t see anyone else. It was just the two of them and Peter stuck even closer by Tony than usual.

Normally, he’d sit at the counter or the couch while Tony worked on dinner but not then. Instead, he stayed in the kitchen right with Tony, even following from one side of the kitchen to the other when Tony went to get things from the cupboards.

He stood with one elbow resting on the counter and his chin in his hand, looking up at Tony with a giddy smile. He hardly said anything but his smile grew every time Tony looked down at him with a smile of his own.

Since Peter didn’t seem too inclined to have a conversation, Tony didn’t try to talk either. He was fine with just being near each other and going through their normal routine. Dinner, tv, and ice cream.

It was nothing different. People would ask them later how they celebrated it and they didn’t have much to say. Except that it didn’t _feel_ the same. It felt special.

Peter kept telling himself that it was just a _name_ and it was ridiculous to be as excited as he was. But it didn’t matter. He was still completely over the moon. He could hardly focus on anything other than the fact that he was sitting next to his _dad_.

It was the same for Tony. Logically, the only difference was a stack and papers with some signatures - which was stored safely and neatly in his desk. Yeah, Peter’s name was different now but he had been Tony’s kid for a few months already. So what was the big deal?

He didn’t know the answer to that, really. But whatever the reason, it just felt different now.

Peter sat with his back against the arm of the couch and his legs pulled up so that his toes were only just touching the side of Tony’s leg while they ate dinner. They had something on the tv but Peter barely watched it. Once they were done eating and had gotten their ice cream, he curled up against Tony’s side instead and paid a little more attention to the show Tony had picked.

“Ok, kid,” Tony sighed once both of them had finished their second flavors of ice cream. “I think it’s time to head to bed now. We can do more of this tomorrow if you want. I have some work I need to do but I can do it when you’re at school on Monday if you want to hang out tomorrow.” He stood up from the couch, ruffling Peter’s hair once he was on his feet.

“Sure,” Peter smiled again - though he probably hadn’t actually _stopped_ \- and stood up as well. Then he reached out and hugged Tony, wrapping his arms around his middle and burying his face against his shoulder. “Hey… me too.”

Tony looked down at the top of Peter’s head. He hugged him back but furrowed his eyebrows, frowning thoughtfully as he tried to figure out what Peter was talking about. Then it hit him.

“ _I love you so much,_ ” he’d said after everything had been made official. Peter hadn’t said anything back but Tony hadn’t minded.

He was saying it now.

Tony laughed softly, hardly more than a breath, and squeezed Peter a little tighter, trying to make sure he knew that Tony understood.

Peter loved him too.

-

“Ok, so what do I have to do now? Like, now that my name is… different,” Peter questioned, head cocked the side in curiosity. Tony was making breakfast and peter was following him as closely as before.

“‘Different’?” Tony repeated with a slight smirk. “I don’t think I’ve heard you say it yet.”

Peter’s face turned pink but he smiled. “Yeah. It just… it feels kinda weird somehow.” He was standing bent over the counter again with his chin in his hand as he watched the bowl Tony was using for his batter.

“Good weird though, right? Come on, just say it. What’s your name?” Tony set down the spatula he’d been using and watched Peter closely, still smiling at him.

Peter sighed slightly as he looked back at Tony, meeting his eyes. “Peter… Stark. I’m Peter Stark… wow,” he laughed. “That sounds fake.”

“No, that sounds incredible,” Tony corrected, flashing a grin. “I’m pretty happy with it. What about you?”

“Yeah,” Peter said, nodding excitedly. He stood up straight and grinned. “I like it.”

“Good,” Tony replied, winking and Peter and going back to his muffins. He’d wanted to try another coffee cake but Peter had said that he felt like eating something he was confident wouldn’t make him sick. “So what were you trying to ask?”

“Right,” Peter nodded, remembering his question. “Well, like, do I have to go change my name everywhere? Like at school and what about websites I have accounts on? That’s going to be super tedious, right?”

“FRIDAY can take care of your online stuff,” Tony shrugged and then added, “if you want her to, anyway.”

Peter nodded again. “Sure. It’ll take a while for me to remember when I fill stuff out or sign things though… I’ve been ‘Parker’ for sixteen years.”

“You’ll get used to it after a while,” Tony told him. He gestured for Peter to grab him one of the muffin tins so he could start filling the cups. “And I’m going to take care of the school and all that stuff. I’m going to go into the office when I drop you off in the morning. Oh, I’m dropping you off, by the way. Just so I can get go to the office. It’s more efficient than just going separately.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Peter said, smiling easily. There wasn’t much that was going to bother him just then. “What’re we doing today?”

“Whatever you want, I guess,” Tony answered with a small shrug. “What do you feel like?”

Peter hummed thoughtfully and leaned back down on the counter while Tony moved around him to slide the muffins into the oven. They were having chocolate chip that day. They were Peter’s favorite and he said Tony did the best with them.

“You don’t have to pick something now if you don’t want to.”

“No, I’m just thinking,” Peter told him. “We could do stuff in the workshop.”

“Sure,” Tony agreed. He didn’t really let most people into his workshop. And if they got to in, they didn’t get to touch anything. He realized that he’d never really minded letting Peter go in. “Have anything specific you want to work on?”

Peter shrugged. “I don’t care. I just like working on stuff with you.”

Tony grinned and reached over to ruffle Peter’s hair, which he’d done at least five times that morning. Peter had given up trying to fix it. “Ok, well Clint wants new arrows and Sam said his drone is bugging out; wanted me to fix it, I guess.”

“Redwing?”

“Yep. Does he have another I didn’t know about?”

Peter rolled his eyes and went to get the juice from the fridge. “Whatever.”

“‘Whatever’,” Tony repeated in a mockingly exasperated voice. “Geez, what a teenager.”

“Really, Tony?”

“Yep,” Tony said, popping the ‘P’ at the end. “Get out some plates so they’re already there when the muffins are ready.”

Peter scrunched his face up in a confused expression. “Why? We barely use plates. Especially not for your muffins.”

“There’s no reason why we can’t be a little more civilized, Peter,” Tony informed him with a smile.

Peter rolled his eyes again but got out the plates and places them on the counter next to the stove. “When are the muffins going to be ready? I’m really hungry.”

“Hi, Really Hungry. I’m Dad,” Tony responded automatically with a wicked grin.

Turning to look at him, Peter’s jaw dropped though a smile played at the corners of his lips. “Are you serious right now? Did you really just say that? It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours and you’re making dad jokes?”

“What? I’m starting a little late. I’ve gotta catch up to all the other dads with teenagers,” Tony defended and winked at Peter.

“No, you _really_ don’t.”

Tony just laughed and hugged Peter from the side, holding him tightly so that he couldn’t move his arms. “You love it.”

“ _Ok_ ,” Peter laughed as well, squirming a little when Tony tightened his hold on him.

-

They ended up having a pretty good day all in all.

Nothing huge happened but Peter fixed Redwing almost entirely on his own, which he was pretty proud of. Tony worked on the arrows for Clint but said he’d probably finish them while Peter was at school. Peter had deflated a little at the mention of Midtown but he’d perked up again when Tony suggested macaroni and cheese for lunch.

At some point during lunch, Tony decided to spend some time on social media. Peter didn’t know it until he looked later but Tony had apparently felt like posting a picture even though they had agreed that he wasn’t going to give any kind of public statement or announcement about the adoption.

Tony argued that there was no caption and he hadn’t even tagged Peter so it was like a tiny private thing. Something no one else had to understand. In fact, as was evidenced by the many repost and articles about it, no one could even tell who it was a picture of it.

In all the time Tony had known Peter, he had never once posted any kind of picture of him on social media. Not once. A lot of that had to do with Peter having a secret identity.

The picture he’d posted was one Peter didn’t even remember him taking. You could only see his arms, which were straight in the air, and most of his face, though it was blurred enough that you wouldn’t recognize him unless you knew him and had some reason to think he would be in a picture Tony Stark had posted. It looked like he’d been jumping - or maybe falling - when the picture was taken and made absolutely no sense to anyone.

Peter couldn’t help laughing as he read all the comments trying to figure out who it was what it meant. Most of what Tony posted online was a little random and people liked to try and figure it out. Because he never posted things without a reason for it.

The closest he’d come to posting about Peter was when he posted a picture of their empty ice cream tubs on the table, Doctor Who visable on the screen behind them. His captain had said, “what a perfect date.” Of course, Tony had thought it was hilarious to see all the theories about who his new girlfriend was. Peter thought it was mean and made him delete it, which only furthered to rumors of a secret girlfriend.

They laughed about the reactions to the picture of Peter for a while and then played a few games of Clue. After that, they went back to the workshop until evening.

Tony decided not to mention school again until dinnertime. Each time he did, Peter’s smile would falter just a little. He didn’t want to depress Peter or somehow kill the joy they were both feeling so he decided not to bring it up until the end of the day. Since there was clearly an issue, he wasn’t going to just _not_ mention it.

They actually sat at the table to eat, which wasn’t that common for them. He waited for there to be a lull in conversation to say anything.

“So, Peter… how are you feeling about school tomorrow?”

Peter almost seemed to wilt in his chair. “Not great.”

“Why’s that?”

“I just…” He sighed and set down his fork. “It’s gonna be weird. I’ve been thinking about it and I don’t have any idea how I’m going to keep people from noticing. Like, the teachers are supposed to do a roll call. They don’t all care about it and sometimes it isn’t every day but even if they don’t tomorrow, they will at some point and my name’ll be different so what then?”

“Peter…” Tony sighed.

“No, it’s just - I know people will find out about it but I just don’t know how it’s going to happen and I don’t want to make a big deal out if it.”

“Ok, but listen -” Tony tried to cut into Peter’s beginning rant.

“Like, I can’t just keep people from knowing. And if I could, I would stop Harry from knowing because what if he tells his dad? And I know he heard me at the Oscorp thing so maybe it doesn’t make a difference -”

“Yeah, you’re right. It doesn’t make a difference,” Tony tried again. “Remember, I told you that this -”

“It’s not a secret, I know,” Peter stopped him. “But it doesn’t have to be a huge thing either, right?”

Tony sighed and ran a hand down his face. “Kid, it’s _going_ to be. I don’t want to lie to you. There is no way that this won’t blow up when people hear about it and the second one person hears, so will everyone.”

Peter slumped back in his chair and frowned. “Yeah, I know that. I just… I’m not really prepared for that. Like, at all. I’m trying not to worry. I know you hate that.”

“Well, yeah, but that’s not why you shouldn’t worry, Peter,” Tony said, crossing his arms on the top of the table and leaning closer to Peter. “I don’t want you to worry because it’s just… ok, you know what?” He pushed his chair out from the table and stood up. “Go get your shoes on.”

“What?” Peter looked up at him in confusion. Tony gestured for him to hurry up so he got up hesitantly from the table and went to find his shoes from where Dum-E had moved them. “Where are we going?” he asked, sitting on the ground to pull on his sneakers.

“Just out. I’ll wait in the car.”

Peter hurried to catch up to him but had to wait for the elevator to come back. While he waited for it, he went back and grabbed a box of Oreos and a small bottle of milk. He didn’t know how long they’d be gone so he wanted to be prepared.

Just as the door opened, he grabbed a sweatshirt to throw on over his t-shirt. He was only comfortable having his arms - well, _arm_ \- exposed in the privacy of the tower and only around Tony. He had no idea where they were going or if he would be expected to get out of the car and, again, wanted to be prepared.

“Watch out for crumbs,” FRIDAY reminded Peter helpfully when he got to the garage level. “You’ll probably be the one cleaning them up later.”

“ _Thanks_ , FRIDAY,” he called as he slid into the passenger seat of the car Tony had gotten into. It was black and tended to draw less attention. Peter shoved the milk into his cup holder and set the Oreos on the ground before pulling his feet up onto the seat with him.

“Wow,” Tony said dryly, looking Peter over. “Make yourself at home.”

“Ok,” Peter grinned in response, earning a light whack on the arm. He batted Tony’s hand away and laughed lightly. “Are you going to tell me what we’re doing?”

“Maybe,” Tony responded, raising his eyebrows and purposefully sounding as cryptic as he could. “But in all likelihood, no. Probably not.”

“Why?” Peter frowned.

“Because I’m a horribly unkind person.”

Peter rolled his eyes and tipped his head back against the chair. “Fine. Don’t tell me then.”

Tony laughed and sent Peter a teasing grin. “We’re not going anywhere. Just driving.”

Apparently that was enough answer for Peter because he only shrugged and settled a little more into his seat. They didn’t talk at all for about ten minutes. There was just a comfortable silence as Tony did exactly as he’d said and drove slowly around the city.

The sun was almost gone when Tony decided to say something. Peter had just started eating his Oreos and Tony looked briefly like he was going to say something about it but just grabbed an Oreo instead.

“When I was in school, no one really treated anyone else the way they treated me.”

Peter’s head turned suddenly to the side to look at Tony. “What?” He had to angle his head up to be able to see him since he’d slid down sort of far in the seat.

“Yeah,” Tony sighed and nodded a little, keeping his eyes forward. “I mean, it kind of used to bother me for a while. Ok, it bothered me sort of on and off for years. I mean, I just wanted to be normal, you know? But I wasn’t and I never have been. People were always judging me based on my dad - not always in a bad way but still. I was named ‘Stark’ and apparently that mattered, I guess.”

“Did people, like, bully you or…?”

Tony was silent for a moment. Then he sighed softly and glanced down at Peter’s expectant expression. “Yeah. Some of them did.”

“Oh.” Peter nodded and looked down, chewing on his bottom lip. “Well, was it because you were Howard’s son? Or was there something else?”

Tony shrugged. “Who knows, really? Maybe that or maybe because it was because I was a know-it-all both literally and in the way that I was just a jerk who thought I was better than everyone. I don’t know, Pete. I wasn’t that great of a kid, you know? Not the kind of kid I would ever want you hanging around. I was stupid and reckless and I meant well some of the time but I was also arrogant or rude and self centered. I can think of a lot of reasons people might’ve wanted to bully me. But most kids get bullied one way or another at some point, right?”

Peter nodded, his head hardly moving. “Yeah,” he breathed. “I guess so.”

“What about you? There’s that kid, uh, Flash, right?”

He nodded again, looking at Tony through the corners of his eyes, barely moving his head. “Yeah. He’s… he’s an idiot. Who cares what he thinks?”

“Don’t worry about him, ok?” Tony said. “Just… don’t worry about any of them.”

There was a pause then and they both ate a few more Oreos. Peter gulped down some of the milk he’d brought. Then he sighed heavily and leaned his head back into the seat again.

“So, there was one time…” Tony started again, smiling slightly. “This teacher in high school was just… so stupid. He said I had to do a an extra paper. It wasn’t for extra credit or anything. Just because my name was Stark and I guess he thought he should take it upon himself to - actually, I have no clue what he thought he was doing. But he was always so smug and infuriating. I pretty much always knew the answers and it just got on his nerves, you know? Then I corrected him a couple times and he’d just had enough. He spent a whole class trying to disprove some of my dad’s research. He was completely wrong, by the way, because whatever else you want to say about the guy, my dad was smart. He knew his stuff. Well, anyway… so he assigned this paper to me - just me and I’m really not sure that was even allowed. I was annoyed because I didn’t want to have more work to do and it was just so unfair. So I wrote the whole thing on, like, nuclear fusion and stuff, you know? Just to piss him off because he wouldn’t understand half of it. He literally never mentioned it after I turned it in but he seemed to hate me even more so I kinda think it worked. I think he was going to try and tear it apart and whatever. Make me look stupid or something, I guess. Anyway, that was pretty fun. Geez, sorry. I’m sort of rambling, aren’t I?” He looked down at Peter expecting to find him looking bored but he was completely focused and shaking his head.

“No, you’re not rambling. It’s fine,” he said earnestly. “Did any of your teachers like you? I feel like if I had a super smart student, I’d love them. It seems like that would be fun since a lot of kids just don’t care, right?”

“Oh, sure. Yeah, I had teachers who liked me. Well… they liked my potential,” he corrected himself, nodding his head to the side and looking frontward again. “They all thought I was wasting everything I had. I mean, I kind of was. I wonder what they think about me now… I mean, I’m genuinely curious now that I think about it. Do you think they’re proud? I hope that one jerk hates me even more now,” he said with a wink in Peter’s direction.

“Why would you _hope_ that?” Peter asked through an amused smile. “I don’t like it when people hate me.”

“No one hates you, Peter. You’re too adorable,” Tony told him matter-of-factly.

“Oh my gosh,” Peter muttered, turning his now bright red face away to look out the window. “You’re so weird.”

Tony grinned again, chuckling quietly. “That’s ok. I don’t mind being weird. Oh, and that’s another thing!”

“Uh… what is?” Peter asked, turning back towards Tony again. He shoved a couple more Oreos in his mouth and almost snorted when Tony shot him a slightly disgusted look.

“Just… weird people,” he said, still shaking his head at Peter had he tried to pick up all the cookie bits he’d dropped. “Anyway, yeah. Everyone is weird. We’re all just weird in different ways, ok? So just don’t let people make you feel bad about that.”

“Ok?”

“Well, I’m just saying…” Tony shrugged. “You’re just fine the way you are, ok? Look, kid, I am trying to be encouraging here.”

Much to Tony’s surprise, Peter just started laughing in response to that. He actually laughed so hard that he ended up kicking his feet a little. Tony sighed but wore a smile on his face too.

Peter calmed down after a minute and Tony told him about a time in high school when he wore a very stupid costume to the school halloween party and everyone made fun of him for it for the rest of the year. Tony claimed he couldn’t remember what the costume actually was but Peter was convinced that he was lying about that and just didn’t want to say now that he looked back and could see what a bad idea it had been.

He was right about that one.

Coming to the conclusion that making Peter laugh was a lot of fun, Tony proceeded to tell him more funny stories about his childhood until Peter had finished all of his Oreos. After that, Peter leaned his chair back a little, yawning widely as he did it.

Tony spent the rest of the drive telling Peter smaller stories about little moments of his life as he remembered them. He avoided the really funny ones so that Peter wouldn’t laugh enough to wake himself up all the way.

He was only half asleep when Tony pulled back into the garage. Tony asked if he needed any help getting to bed but he declined, saying that he was perfectly capable because “Spider-Man is super cool and can go to bed on his own.” Tony bit his lip to hold in a laugh at that and wondered if Peter would remember saying it by morning. Even after being told his help was not needed, he followed closely behind Peter until he was safely in his room and tugging off his shoes.

“Goodnight, Peter,” he said before he shut the door. “I’ll see you in the morning. Thanks for going with me.”

“Sure thing, Dad,” Peter yawned, his eyes barely open. “It was fun.” He flopped onto the bed and Tony was pretty sure he was asleep before he hit the pillow.

-

_Breathe. In and out. Breathe._

“Pete, you ok there?”

Peter’s head snapped to the side to look at Tony. His dad.

He nodded. “Yep. I’m fine.”

“We don’t lie to each other, Peter,” Tony reminded him softly as the turned onto the street Midtown was on. “So… you ok?”

Peter sighed softly, his shoulders slumping slightly. “No. I’m trying to be though. I promise.”

“Hey, it’s ok,” Tony told him. His tone was gentle and reassuring. “What’s the problem? Can you pinpoint it?”

“I’m just nervous. That’s all.”

“All right. Keep breathing, ok? Just deep, slow breaths.”

Peter nodded again and went back to trying to get some control on his breathing. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the seat. The car went over the slight bump at the gates and Peter sat up again, grabbing his backpack from between his feet.

“Hey,” Tony said as he slowed the car down, stopping in the middle of the parking lot for Peter to get out before he went and tried to find somewhere to park. There were a lot of kids around and he figured it would be a bit of a task. There wasn’t much reason for Peter to just sit there and wait when he could just go in then. “Just keep pushing, ok? You’ll make it through today. It’s only a day and they’re only people and you, Peter, you’re unstoppable. Remember?”

Peter smiled easily, breathing a quiet laugh as he did, and nodded. “Thanks. I’ll see you at home.”

He got out of the car then and gave Tony a quick wave as he shut the door and turned around. Then, just he stepped forward, the car behind them sped up as it passed by Tony’s car and Peter jumped back out of the way, his backpack knocking against the window.

“Hey, loser!” The driver called as he sped off towards the teachers parking.

_Stupid Flash._

Peter sighed in annoyance, his lips pressing together as he pushed off of Tony’s car and started to walk forward. But then he heard the car door open behind him. He whirled around and Saw Tony getting out of his side of the car. Glancing back at the line of cars waiting to pull through, Peter shook his head at Tony. “No! What are you doing?”

“Peter, what the heck was that?” Tony demanded, sticking a hand out in the direction Flash had gone. “That guy could’ve hit you!”

“No, he – it’s fine! He’s just a jerk. He’s not really trying to hit me. He thinks it’s funny,” Peter explained desperately. “Just – just go, ok? I’m fine, see?”

“You’re saying this like it’s a normal thing,” Tony accused, pulling off his sunglasses and pointing them at Peter.

“Get in the car,” Peter begged, trying to keep his voice down. “ _Please_.”

“Was that Flash?”

Peter groaned and pulled at his backpack straps. “Yes, now just _go_. Seriously, people are looking at you and they’re waiting to get in the parking lot and just – just, go!”

Tony narrowed his eyes and looked off where Flash had gone. “Fine. But I am reporting that little punk!”

Then he climbed into the car and drove off a little faster than he should’ve. Peter breathed a sigh of relief and hurried out of the parking lot and toward the front steps.

This was going to be a very long day.

Ned and Mary Jane were waiting for him when he got to the steps. They both looked like they were trying to mask excitement. Probably for different reasons.

“Peter! It was on Saturday, right?” Ned asked, coming right up next to him as they all walked up the steps together. Mary Jane trailed behind a little. “The… _you know_?” He looked around to make sure no one was listening.

Peter couldn’t help the grin that spread on his face. He nodded. “Yeah. Yeah it was Saturday.”

“So? Do you feel different?” Ned pressed enthusiastically.

“It’s just… it’s a name and some papers,” Peter said, trying to sound casual about it. He shrugged a little for good measure.

Mary Jane purposefully stepped on his heel, pulling down his shoe. “Shut up. It’s more than that and you know it.”

Peter glared briefly at her and hopped on one foot as he pulled the heel of his shoe back up. He would’ve fallen on if his face if he’d tried that before the spider bite.

“Yeah,” Ned nodded. “Come on. How does it feel?”

Peter shook his head as his smile grew again. “Yeah, ok… It’s amazing. Seriously, it’s… it just feels right, you know? Like, it kinda feels normal but it’s not exactly. Does that even make sense?”

They both nodded. Mary Jane smiled at him and it was the nice one with the crinkled nose that made him feel so warm inside.

“I’m really happy for you, Tiger,” she told him. For a second it almost seemed like she was going to lean forward and hug him but then she must’ve changed her mind or something. “Everyone should have a loving dad, right?”

Peter wasn’t sure how to respond. Mary Jane had sounded almost… wistful, which was certainly not something he was used to hearing in her voice. He furrowed his eyebrows and was about to say something when Ned spoke up again.

“I mean, my dad is great and all… but _Tony Stark_?” He said the last part under his breath and with an excited grin. “Only you, Peter. Seriously, your life is so crazy!”

“Yeah,” Peter smiled, shrugging a little. “I guess it kind of is. Though so is yours by proxy.”

“Hey, _Parker_!” Flash shouted suddenly, coming in the school door behind them. “Wait up!”

Well, he sounded mad…

Peter turned around to face Flash as the other teen stormed toward him. Mary Jane sighed and rolled her eyes, looking the other way in exasperation. She was constantly telling Peter to just ignore Flash but he rarely did.

“What is going on?” Flash demanded when he got to Peter, charged up so close to Peter that he backed up and hit the lockers behind him. Flash pointed a finger at his face. “You tell me _right_ now!”

“You’re going to have to explain what you’re talking about,” Peter told him. So far, he was doing a good job of not reacting. He sort of thought Tony would be proud of him.

“Why the heck was Tony Stark threatening me in the parking lot?” Flash hissed. His face had gone red. Peter wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed or just angry.

Peter’s eyes widened. “What did he say?”

“No, you answer me, dork!” Flash demanded aggressively.

Peter leaned back even closer to the locker with a sharp intake of breath when Flash jabbed his finger toward Peter again. Peter didn’t actually think he’d ever seen him this angry. “Tell me what he said. I can’t help you if I don’t know anything.”

“You don’t _have_ to help him,” Mary Jane cut in, her tone clipped. “Come on, we don’t want to miss class.”

“Stay out of it,” Flash snapped without taking his eyes off of Peter. He narrowed his eyes as he worked his jaw. “Why are you so hard to figure out, Parker?”

Peter frowned and both of his friends could guess why. He looked like he wanted to say something in response but he bit his tongue.

Harry walked up to them then, his head down as he dug through his backpack. He stopped right by Flash and Peter. “Hey,” he greeted cheerily but when he looked up his face fell. “What’s going on?”

Peter shook his head, still frowning. “Nothing, Harry.”

“Doesn’t look like nothing…” Harry looked between the two of them. “Seriously, what’s the problem?”

Flash back up suddenly and Peter’s tense stance relaxed. “It’s nothing. Peter’s just being all secretive and… annoying. Dork,” he scoffed before walking away with a huff of annoyance.

Peter sighed and straightened his backpack. “It’s fine, Harry. Don’t worry about it.”

None of his friends looked like they believed him.

_It was probably going to be a long day…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins. ;D


	28. Chapter Twenty-Eight

“All right, uh, who’s next…?” Mr. Harrington squinted and looked down at his clipboard. Mr. Harrington always took roll. _Always_.

Peter slid down in his chair a little and kept his eyes on the scribbled markings he was making at the top of the page he had open in his notebook.

“Hmm… well, that’s odd.” Mr. Harrington looked up and scanned the class, his eyes landing on Peter. “Peter, you aren’t on here. Was there a change in your schedule?”

He looked up at the teacher for a brief moment and then looked around at the rest of the class. Only a few of them seemed interested. Most of them were texting and flipping through their books. Maybe they wouldn’t think about it if they weren’t paying attention…

_Breathe._

“Um,” he cleared his throat. “I might be a little… well, just maybe farther down the list.”

Mr. Harrington frowned confusedly and looked back down again. “Oh! Oh, that’s right. You were adopted this weekend, weren’t you? I’m sorry, Peter, it completely slipped my mind.” He laughed good-naturedly and continued calling names. There were only a few more before Peter’s new spot on the list. “Ok, and Stark, Peter. There we go,” he grinned at Peter and kept on with the list, not giving anyone a chance to say anything or react at all.

Peter could feel his face heating up. He knew people were looking at him. If he’d looked up at any of them, someone might try and ask him something. So he kept his head down and barely registered a thing Mr. Harrington said for the whole rest of the class. Breathing too enough of his focus already.

As soon as the bell rang, Peter shoved everything back into his back, flung it over his shoulder, and hurried past everyone to get out the door first. Just when he’d thought he’d made it, he heard Mr. Harington call him back. Frowning, he waited for everyone else to leave the class before he stepped back in, still making sure he didn’t make eye contact with anyone.

“Yeah, Mr. Harrington?” He said impatiently, glancing out the door.

The teacher looked over at him with a concerned expression. “Peter, I just wanted to check that everything’s all right. You seemed sort of… uncomfortable through class. You weren’t as engaged as you tend to be. You are happy in your new home, aren’t you? I know it must be strange to get used to but you’re happy, aren’t you?”

Peter nodded hurriedly. “Yeah! Yeah, absolutely. I’ve been living there for a little while already. I’m happy, I promise. I just… ok, I _am_ a little uncomfortable today but it’s not about home, I promise. Really.”

“Well, can I help you at all?”

“No. No, I’m fine. But I do have another class now so…” He gestured toward the door awkwardly. Mr. Harrington nodded, giving him permission to leave, and Peter said a quick thank you before darting to the door.

When he opened it, he was met with the faces of a handful of curious classmates.

Peter’s eyes widened and his first instinct was to reach behind him to open the door and slip back into Mr. Harrington’s classroom.

“Hey, wait a second,” someone said when he grabbed the doorknob.

Flash Thompson. _Again_.

“You can’t just not explain that, dork!”

Peter pressed his lips together and sighed through his nose. He was not in the mood for this. He had another class he had to get to and he really didn’t want to spend any _more_ time around Flash. Just before he could say anything, his phone made a noise alerting him of a text message.

He pulled it from his back pocket and looked at the screen.

Tony.

Glancing back up at Flash and the other kids still standing with him, Peter made a decision. He’d just have to ignore them.

Sighing again, though now in determination, Peter shoved past Flash and walked purposefully to his next classroom. He tuned out Flash calling after him and thanked the stars that Flash wasn’t in this class. A few of the other kids who had been standing there but Peter hoped they wouldn’t say anything.

Once he got into the classroom, he slid into his seat and pulled his phone back out to read the text Tony had sent.

**I’m leaving the offices now. Had a couple things to take care of. You ok?**

Peter closed his eyes and took a moment to just breathe now that he could again.

**Yeah. Now, anyway. Thanks.**

Not two seconds after he’d sent it and he already had a response.

**For?**

Peter smiled and typed a fast response as the class started.

**Just everything. You always make it better, whatever the problem is. Thanks.**

After he’d sent the text, Peter decided to just focus on his class. It was one he liked and this teacher didn’t care much about taking attendance so Peter didn’t think he’d have to worry about a repeat of the last class.

Except that he saw the kid in front of him scrolling on his phone throughout the class. Peter wasn’t trying to be nosy but he couldn’t help reading over the kid’s shoulder when he noticed a blurry picture of himself on the screen. It was the one Tony had posted the day before.

At first, Peter thought the kid was only reading some of what people had been saying about it but then he realized that he wasn’t. He was in a group chat and talking about it with other kids at school. And someone was pointing out that the picture could maybe be of Peter…

After that, Peter couldn’t listen to this teacher either. Breathing took precedence.

Mary Jane, who sat two seats behind Peter, came up to him once the class was over and walked out with him. She pulled him by the sleeve of his sweater to get him through the sea of students faster, not really caring when they bumped into people. As soon as they got to her locker, she let go of him and started sorting her books.

“You know,” she started, looking in her locker rather than at Peter, who was doing his best to be unnoticeable. “You should ask yourself what Tony would do in this situation. Then just do that.”

“He would call a press conference,” Peter groaned with his cheek pressed against the cool metal of the locker next to Mary Jane’s. “I know because that was literally his plan for this until I told him not to.”

“Ok, what would he do besides that?” She still wasn’t looking at him. Peter wondered if she was still mad at him about… whatever he’d even done.

“I guess… I don’t know. He’d just ignore everyone, probably. Try and get control of the situation somehow.”

That was when she finally turned to look him in the eye. “Ok. Do that.”

“How?” he asked her miserably, turning his body a little more when someone seemed to be looking at him. He was _really_ trying to hide himself while standing in front of what was basically a wall. It wasn’t easy.

She shrugged and shut her locker, hugging a few books to his chest. “Just… ok. First, stop squishing yourself against lockers. That’s weird. You look stupid.”

“Well, what do I do then?” He huffed, straightening his posture only a little.

“Just keep your chin up and your back straight. Look confident, ok? And don’t answer any questions you don’t want to. Ignore everyone except the people you like and want to talk to. Just make it through today. People will calm down soon enough,” she told him, shrugging again.

“Are they… not calm?” Peter glanced around and saw that despite his best efforts there were a lot of kids looking at him and whispering to their friends.

Now that he was focusing on it, he could hear a lot of what they were saying.

“There is no way Puny Parker was adopted by Iron Man.”

“If Tony Stark had a kid, I think everyone would know about it. He’s not exactly known for being subtle and secretive, you know?”

“Now that I think about it, that picture Tony Stark posted totally looks just like Peter. It must be him.”

“What if it’s a different Stark?”

“Flash said Tony Stark was at school today and talked to him. So it kinda checks out, right?”

“I thought he just worked at SI. Now he’s being adopted by Tony Stark himself? What even?”

“Does Iron Man have a cousin or something? Maybe someone else adopted him and they’re just related now.”

“If I were him, I would be bragging about this so hard right now!”

Peter turned back to Mary Jane with panicked eyes. “MJ, I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can, Peter,” she said calmly. “They’re just kids. You’ve dealt with worse, right?” And then she started to walk away and Peter felt like he’d been left alone on a plank of wood in a sea filled with sharks. He hurried after her and tried not to make eye contact with anyone.

“You can’t just leave,” he hissed.

She looked at him over the shoulder with a raised eyebrow. “Uh, yeah, I can. You’re not in my next class.”

“Mary Jane, _please_ ,” he begged desperately. “I can’t be alone right now!”

“Peter, I know,” she sighed, massaging her temples with one hand and still holding her books with the other. “But I’m not going to miss classes right now and neither are you. Ned is in your next one, right? Just find him, ok? I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, but so is Flash!”

Mary Jane stopped walking for a moment and gave Peter a briefly sympathetic look. “You’ll be ok.” Then she put on an indifferent expression and walked off to her class, leaving Peter standing alone in the hallway.

Almost as soon as she’d left him, someone came up next to him and asked, “Hey, did you really get adopted?”

“Yes,” he answered stiffly. “Please don’t talk to me.”

Ignoring whatever it was they said in response - because _of course_ they responded - Peter started off toward his next class and pulled out his phone. He wanted to call Tony but he actually thought he might start crying if he heard his voice so he called Ned instead.

“ _Hey, Peter,_ ” Ned greeted when he answered the call. “ _Did you leave school again?_ ”

“What? No,” Peter frowned. “Why would you think that?”

“ _Because you’re calling me during school. I figured maybe you wanted me to cover for you._ ”

“Um, no? No, I just… needed to talk to someone,” he explained, picking up his pace. Really, he just wanted to appear busy.

“Who are you talking to?” Someone asked when he walked by them.

Peter shot them a confused look and kept walking. Why did they care? This was not at all normal…

“ _Ok? Well, are you almost to the classroom because it starts in two minutes. I probably should hang up…_ ” he said hesitantly. He was a good friend. He wanted to talk to Peter but he also didn’t want to get in trouble for being on his phone.

As much as he wanted to ask him to just keep talking to him until the class started, Peter sighed and said, “Yeah, ok. I’ll be right there. Sorry.” Then he hung up the call, shoving his phone back in pocket and walked even faster. He wanted to get there as fast as he could.

As soon as he got into the room, he slid into his seat next to Ned and busying himself flipping around aimlessly in the textbook for the class. He was breathing heavily and trying to stop.

Ned leaned over to him and whispered, “hey, Peter, are you ok?”

Peter nodded and gave Ned a smile that turned out more like a grimace. “I’m fine.”

He could feel Flash staring at him from the other side of the classroom. All he had to do was ignore him and he’d be fine… if he could just avoid any kind of eye contact and keep to himself, he’d be ok. He only had to make it to the end of the day and then he could go back home to Tony.

He felt everyone looking at him when the teacher called his name and he nervously darted his hand in the air and slumped in his chair. He hated this. No one had cared when they called his name before. ‘Parker’ hadn’t mattered to anyone.

Peter had been so sure that if they’d completed the adoption process before the school year started, people wouldn’t notice as much. He’d been completely convinced that this would be worse.

Well, it was pretty bad but he wasn’t really so sure that the timing had made a difference.

As he sat through the class, tapping his fingers impatiently on the top of his desk and bouncing his knee, he thought about the stories Tony had told him the night before. He guessed that even if he’d grown up as a Stark there would’ve been people talking about him and caring what he did.

He’d been telling himself that it would last a little while - maybe a week. It would die down pretty soon and then no one would care. But that wasn’t true either, was it? Maybe it wouldn’t be quite as big a deal but his life was never going to change back. He was a Stark now and people were going to notice more than they ever would’ve otherwise. And there was literally no way to change that. Even if he changed his name back - which he had no desire to do - it was too late because people already knew.

By the time the class was over Peter was wiping away tears he hadn’t noticed falling down his cheeks. Flash was still glaring daggers at him so he’d definitely noticed.

Peter wanted to bury himself in the ground and never come out.

-

Peter was actually very surprised when Flash didn’t mention the fact that he’d been crying. The whole rest of the day went by without any comments from him.

Even without speaking to Peter, Flash hardly took his eyes off of him. He stared moodily at him any time they were within the vicinity of one another. It didn’t really matter that he didn’t say anything because Peter was sure he was going to sooner or later and was on edge the entire rest of the day.

Lunch usually sounded great to Peter for two reasons. One was his friends and the other was just getting to eat. But on that particular Monday, lunch sounded horrible. It was going to leave him wide open. People couldn’t really pester him in the middle of class - at least not that much - but at lunch there was nothing stopping them from coming up to his table and trying to ask him questions.

He got to the cafeteria before his friends and immediately headed for a table in the far back corner. It was out of the way and hardly anyone sat there so he figured he could maybe stay off of everyone’s radar. He was about to text Ned and tell him where he was sitting when three other kids came up to the table.

“Uh, hey there,” one of them greeted, doing some sort of strange shoulder wave so as not to drop his tray. “Is anyone else sitting here?”

Peter glanced around quickly before shaking his head. “No? Sorry, is this your table? Because I can go. I just -”

“Oh, no!” Another said as she sat down right across from Peter and set down her tray. “We just didn’t want to bother you. You don’t have to go anywhere. In fact, we’d feel bad if you did.”

The others offered affirmatives and sat down by the girl. Each of them seemed itching to say something but too uncomfortable to go first.

Peter sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I’ll just save you the time of asking. Yeah, Tony Stark adopted me this weekend. It’s… it’s not that big a deal.”

The boy who’d spoken first lit up a little. “Can I, like, ask you some stuff?”

Peter nodded hesitantly and tugged at his sleeves. “Sure. I guess so.” He looked past of them and scanned the room, trying to spot any one of his friends. Not having any luck, he looked back at the three kids in front of him. “What do you want to know?”

“Well… why did he adopt you?” The girl asked, leaning into the table eagerly.

“Because he… wanted to?” Peter shrugged. “It - I really don’t think it’s a big deal.”

The third kid, another boy, let his jaw drop open at that. “How can you say that? He’s mega rich and a superhero! And you’re a teenager. No one adopts teenagers. How is this not a big deal? Do you know him from somewhere else? How did he meet you?”

“Yeah, I heard he’s an intern at Stark Industries,” the girl answered before Peter even could. “So they probably already knew each other, right?”

The first boy waved a hand to get the others to stop talking and looked Peter square in the eye. “Well, enough about that. We had something else we wanted to ask about.”

Peter cocked his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows. “Um… ok? What is it?” He hadn’t thought anyone would ask him about anything _other_ than that for at least the next week.

“Well, we have sort of a study group that meets after school three days a week and sometimes we do games and movies and stuff,” he explained with an almost eager smile. “You’re, like, super smart. So we thought maybe you could help with some of the subjects we always get stuck on. Are you busy this evening? We’re meeting in the park down the road and getting pizza so -”

“No,” Peter interrupted suddenly. He winced a little. “Sorry. Just - no. I’m not - I don’t think I can do that. I’m pretty, um, busy already. I already had to quit a bunch of, like, groups and stuff l-last year so… I just don’t have the time. Sorry, no. I’m sorry.”

The three of them deflated a little, all adopting disappointed expressions but nodding all the same.

“Well, ok,” the girl said. “I mean, we were just asking because you’re always in the top of the class and we could really use your help but we get it. If you change your mind, you’ll let us know, right?”

Peter nodded even though he had no intention of actually doing that.

“Good,” the first boy smiled. “And if you just want to stop by and have some pizza or go with us to the movies next time we go, you can do that too. Like, even if you don’t join our study group, I mean.” The other two smiled and nodded along.

Peter furrowed his eyebrows and nodded slightly. “Yeah. Ok…”

He sort of had a feeling they would never have asked him when his last name was ‘Parker’. It was weird and unexpected. Honestly, he had no idea how to feel about it.

After a few minutes of awkwardly sitting there while they ate their food and talked amongst each other as if Peter was one of their friends and a part of the conversation, Peter pulled his phone back out to text Ned under the table.

**Hey, man. Where are you?**

It was another minute before he got his response.

**We’re outside. Where are you? Harry was waiting by the door to get you when he saw you but he never did. We thought you didn’t come into the cafeteria. Mary Jane just thought sitting outside might make you feel a little better.**

Peter frowned and looked up at the crowded room. There were kids everywhere as the tables filled up and people went through the food line. The door to the tables outside was on the other end, which meant he’d have to walk all the way across the room to get there.

He sighed and looked back at his phone. The kids across from him were still talking and hadn’t seemed to notice that he was completely ignoring them.

**Tell him to go back to the door. I’m heading over.**

He didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, the phone was shoved back in his pocket as he stared at the door and waited for Harry to appear. The second he saw him, he shot up from his seat and muttered a quick apology before getting across the room as fast as he could.

He kept his head down and decided he didn’t want to know how many people noticed him as he ducked past them and weaved around the corners of the tables.

“Peter! Hey, where were you?” Harry asked when Peter got to him, the two of them walking outside together.

“Sitting in the corner,” Peter sighed. He could breathe a little better outside. It wasn’t as crowded. Still, the people there were staring at him but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been so he decided not to care. At least, he decided to _try_ not to.

His friends had gotten the table that was located the farthest away from the building and was only visible from some angles due to the trees it was placed behind. Thankfully, it was just Mary Jane, Ned, and Harry. He didn’t have to worry about dealing with people too much while he ate and he was comfortable enough around the three of them that he was able to forget how miserable the first part of the day had been.

Mary Jane seemed to have finally moved on from her mysterious grievance with Peter and actually talked with the three boys while they had lunch. She read her book too but at least she wasn’t doing it to avoid talking to Peter.

By the time they’d finished eating and waited for everyone else to head inside, Peter was feeling a restored energy and confidence. His friends made sure at least one of them was with him for the rest of the day and he was glad of the fact that he didn’t have any classes without any of the others in it as well.

He made it through the day without really feeling much improvement but it wasn’t getting worse either and he forced himself to focus on the latter fact. Technically, he left school early. He left class to go to the restroom five minutes before the bell and just left the school instead, hanging the hall pass from the classroom door and bolting before anyone could try and corner him.

Ned had offered to walk home with him, which was an offer he would’ve accepted immediately had he been waiting for the bell. People were bound to try and stop him or happen to walk the same way as him or something and having someone by his side would’ve helped with that. Since he was beating the crowd though, he didn’t think he’d need Ned.

As he walked, he wondered if he’d ever have such as easy time just walking down the street again…

-

Tony barely got a greeting out before Peter had latched onto him, pulling himself as close to the elder Stark as he possibly could. His grip was almost painfully tight and desperate.

“Hey, kid… what happened?” Tony asked gently, not hesitating to wrap his arms around Peter as well, his fingers threading themselves through the teenager’s hair. “What can I do?”

“Just - I just want to stay like this for a minute. Please,” Peter mumbled into Tony’s chest, breathing in deeply and relaxing his tense muscles as he let out a shuddering breath.

“Yeah. Sure thing,” Tony murmured, resting his chin on the top of Peter’s head and moving one hand down to rub soothing circles on his back. “As long as you need. I’m here, ok?”

Peter nodded and seemed to try to pull himself even closer. “I think I want to stay in the tower for the rest of my life. Can that be ok?”

“Not really,” Tony laughed softly.

Even though the answer was not what Peter would’ve liked to hear, he breathed a shaky laugh too. “Yeah. I know."

There was a beat of silence.

"It doesn’t get better… does it?”

Tony sighed with a slight frown. “It does. In a way. You’re going to get used to it, ok? Eventually, it won’t shake you so much. I’m not saying it’ll be good necessarily but… maybe it’ll be less scary. And I’m here no matter what. You know that, Peter, ok?”

He nodded again, his hair tickling the underside of Tony’s chin. “Yeah, I know. It helps… _a lot_.”

They didn’t talk again until Peter let go of Tony, pulling back and wiping tears from his eyes. He had started crying more from exhaustion and relief than anything else.

Once Peter had offered a wobbly smile, Tony moved away from him just long enough to grab some ice cream before leading Peter to the couch. Peter didn’t take the ice cream when he offered it to him so he set it on the table for whenever they were ready for it.

Peter sat curled up and turned sideways so he could rest his cheek on the back of the couch. Tony sat next to him and put an arm up over the back of the couch and above Peter’s hand, reaching down to comb through Peter’s hair with his fingertips.

“Why do you do that?” Peter asked quietly. “To my hair, I mean.”

“Sorry. Does it bother you?” Tony asked, his hand freezing. “You could’ve told me. I would’ve stopped doing it.”

Peter shook his head. “No, I don’t mind it. It feels nice. It… it feels kind of safe. Because it’s you. You’re my _dad_ ,” he whispered. “Do you know how weird that is?”

“Not weird. Different. New maybe. Not weird.” His fingers went back to moving through Peter’s hair and he smiled softly. “It kinda makes me feel safer too. That’s why I do it, I guess. It comforts me too.”

Peter’s face screwed up in a confused expression. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Tony chuckled. “It just does. Want to talk about your day yet?”

Peter frowned almost lopsidedly. “I don’t know. It just - everyone was talking about me all day long. These kids, like, wanted to be friends with me suddenly and I know it was because of you. Some of them seemed mad at me or something and I - I just don’t know why. Why does it make them mad? I didn’t - I didn’t _do_ anything, did I?”

“They’re just jealous, Peter. Ignore them. It doesn’t matter, ok?”

“Yeah, but - I don’t know,” he sighed. “I just feel like - I mean, I kinda feel bad and I don’t know why… Everyone wants to ask me stuff and those kids wanted me to hang out with them and I - I said no and I feel like a jerk. But I don’t want to just do whatever everyone wants me to, you know? I just want to be normal again. I don’t want my friends to - I don’t want them to hate me. Do you know what they did? They got a table as far away from everyone as they could find and - and they walked with me between classes and tried to help keep people from bugging me. Like, all day. And I - I don’t want them to feel like they have to, like, guard me or something, you know? I don’t want them to get tired of me because of it.”

Tony smiled warmly and tipped his head to the side. “Peter, if they do get tired of you, they don’t deserve to have you as a friend, ok? You’re too good for all those jerks at your school. Don’t give them so much power. Don’t beat yourself up for saying no to people.”

“Harry wanted to know about how we know each other,” Peter said suddenly. “I’m sorry. I know you don’t want him to know anything about us…”

“It’s ok,” Tony assured him, though his smile faltered a little. “What did you say?”

“I just said that I was interning for you and we got to know each other. I told him a little about what happened with May. I told him that you helped me and this - this just made the most sense. And you were sort of… already becoming my dad so… yeah.”

Tony nodded and sighed. “Were your friends weird about it?”

Peter noticed that Tony tended to refer to Harry and Peter’s friends separately, as if Harry didn’t fit into that category himself. He supposed Tony liked it better that way… “No. They were happy about it. Ned was super excited. Mary Jane finally stopped ignoring me and stuff, so that’s cool, right? Can I have them over later this week? Just to hang out. Not, um, not Harry. Don’t worry.”

“Yeah,” Tony said immediately with a quick nod. “Of course you can. Any time, ok? I really mean that. I mean, I’d like a little warning but whenever you want, ok?”

“Ok.” Peter nodded too. He moved closer and rested his head on Tony’s arm, letting his eyes flutter shut. “I don’t think I want any ice cream right now. I just want to sit here.”

“That’s ok,” Tony told him, hugging him closer. “We’ll just sit for a while then.”

That first day had been hard. But any doubts Peter had about everything melted away once he was back home with Tony again. Sure, it would be hard. But like Tony had said, he’d always be right there and that alone made everything seem a little easier to overcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Peter's life is really not going to be the same after this. ;D
> 
> This week, I'm recommending The Calendar Year by DJDangerLove. This is a Tony-adopts-Peter fic that I particularly enjoy. So far, there are only three chapters but there are going to be twelve; one for every month of the year. It's emotional and well written and one I constantly look forward to reading a new chapter from! They also have a playlist available to go along with the story, which is a really cool thing to do!
> 
> (Edit: I was only going to recommend one at a time... But seriously, read Stark Men Are Made Of Hope by Gothic_Lolita. It's so wonderful and I've re-read it a few times since it was posted and just... read it!)


	29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this is later than usual! I completely forgot to post it before bed like I always do. But hey, twenty-nine chapters and it’s the first time I’ve forgotten! ;D

By the next day, most of the kids at school had decided to try and be Peter’s new best friend.

Everyone seemed to want to talk to him and Peter tried to keep every conversation as short as possible. His friends continued to help him with it and Harry attempted to give him some advice in being the son of a rich scientist. It was just that Tony was more than that. He was also Iron Man overall just more popular among most people but especially teenagers than Norman Osborn was. So Harry had never dealt with quite this level of interest at school.

Tony had helped a lot the night before. Peter had been pretty anxious and it had made him scared to go to sleep. He’d noticed that whenever he was anxious, his mind went straight to Osborn as soon as he fell asleep. As soon as Tony had noticed how weird Peter’s breathing had gotten he made him spend fifteen minutes doing breathing exercises with him. He’d complained a little about it but Peter had to admit that it helped.

Regardless of the improvement in the anxiety department, he’d woken up from a nightmare early in the morning. Tony had wanted to do anything he could to make him feel better and Peter actually convinced him to play piano for him since he’d found it soothing before.

So they’d sat beside each other on the bench with Peter resting his head on Tony’s shoulder while he played. They stayed like that until Peter fell asleep again. After that, Tony had just moved him to the couch so he could be there if he woke up again.

Even without going anywhere in public, there were already reports of Tony Stark having adopted an unknown teenager. Tony noticed the beginnings of it while they ate breakfast. It hadn’t really blown up yet since no one knew anything and there was no solid evidence for anyone to spread around. But the Midtown kids weren’t exactly helping to keep it low key since they all seemed to want to respond to every bit of it with something like, “this is true! I go to school with him!”

One person asked Peter for a picture as proof that they knew one another. Peter said no and that it wouldn’t prove anything since no one knew his face yet. He slipped away before they could get a picture of him and went to hide in a closet and text Tony.

Peter spent as much time as he could texting Tony during school. It helped calm down and made him look less available for conversation. Two birds with one stone and all that.

It was during his last class that Tony sent him a text he hadn’t wanted to read.

**We’re going to the compound after school. We need to tell them before it starts spreading like wildfire. Just be prepared for that.**

Peter could not possibly have prepared himself for that one. There were too many possibilities as far as how they would respond and too many Avengers to not expect a variety of reactions. There was no way it would be an enjoyable conversation.

He appreciated the heads up though.

-

Happy drove them to the compound, which was nice because he preferred to drive without any music. That meant Peter didn’t have to worry about any horrifying rock music blaring in his ears while he tried to read. Mary Jane had given him another book to finish and he hadn’t even started it yet.

He only ended up reading for about half the drive. Tony was busy running through ideas of how to tell the Avengers that he’d adopted Peter and liked to get feedback. Happy feedback wasn’t very informative so Peter had to listen too.

Since he was already anxious enough about school, Peter decided he wasn’t going to be anxious about telling the Avengers. Talking about it during the drive didn’t really help though and he was tugging at his sleeves when they pulled up to the building.

“Deep breaths, kid,” Tony said as he opened his door. “You’re ok.”

Peter nodded and got out of his side of the car as well, telling himself to get a grip. What was the worst that could even happen? Well, maybe a massive shouting match but… other than that, he was sure it would be ok.

If anyone noticed that Peter sat a little closer to Tony than usual, they didn’t say anything. Overall, everyone was remarkably civil towards each other. Steve was actually being pretty friendly to Tony and Tony regarded him the same way. Peter figured it made sense that the day they finally stopped being so tense around each other would be the day Tony was going to tell them Peter was his son now. Because there was no way it was going to stay so nice between them after that and nothing was ever simple or easy.

Tony wasn’t making any indications that he had something he needed or even wanted to say so Peter didn’t either. They all sat around the table and just talked about Avengers related news and Tony gave them the upgrades and repairs he and Peter had been working on. Tony hadn’t settled on anything in the car so Peter had no idea what he was planning or if he was planning anything at all.

Eventually, he stopped thinking about it altogether. Worrying was exhausting and he’d been pretty set on not doing it just then. The conversation had shifted to more personal things than just Avengers business and updates and he enjoyed just sitting there while everyone talked as friends more than anything else. It was nice.

“The kids really got a kick out of Wanda coming to visit this weekend,” Clint was saying with an easy smile. “It was nice. No stress or anything, you know?”

Wanda was smiling too. Apparently she’d been feeling a little stir crazy so when Clint went home he let her tag along for some fresh air. “It was an enjoyable break. I’d like to go again.”

“Well, you’re more than welcome to,” Clint told her then looked around at everyone else. “What did miss over the weekend, by the way? Did we miss anything exciting?”

“Oh!” Scott exclaimed, perking up in his seat. “I took Cassie to this really fun little candy store in Rhinebeck! That was before you guys left but you were gone when I got back. Cassie wanted to go to Rhinebeck because she didn’t remember when we went there when she was a baby and Paxton invited me to go with them,” he explained to Tony and Peter, who wouldn’t have had any of knowing that he’d even left.

Peter grinned. “Did she like it? I bet she wanted to get, like, everything they had, right?”

“Yeah, well,” Scott laughed. “To be honest, we got her way more than we should’ve. But you’re only young once, right? And it was a special trip specifically to get candy in Rhinebeck. So it wasn’t like we weren’t going to let her get something, right?”

“Makes sense to me,” Peter said with a shrug. “Bring me next time though. I love sugar.”

“Oh, please,” Tony scoffed. “The last thing you need is more sugar in your system.”

Scott reached into the backpack he’d hung on the back of his chair and grabbed a fistful of little individually wrapped candies, which he tossed at Peter. Most of them fell everywhere.

“ _Please_ tell me that’s all you have in that backpack,” Peter gasped, eyes wide. “That would be amazing.”

“Well, it’s… ok, it’s mostly candy at this point,” Scott admitted sheepishly.

Tony put a hand out in front of Peter, who dropped a couple candies in his palm. “Thanks, kid,” Tony said as he unwrapped one and popped it in his mouth.

Bruce sighed and shook his head. “I’m pretty sure he’s eaten nothing but candy since he got back,” he informed them seriously. “I’m very concerned.”

“What’s your week been like, Brucie?” Tony asked, pushing the candy to the side of his mouth with his tongue.

The scientist shrugged. “Not much. I’ve just been working. Done some reading too. Nothing exciting.”

“Yeah, not much has been happening around here,” Rhodey agreed, nodding. “It’s been fairly uneventful. I’ve been making some progress in the training room though. It almost feels like I’m back to normal.”

“That’s good,” Tony nodded, glancing over at Peter before speaking up again. “Pete and I have had an interesting week. School’s back in so he’s been pretty busy with that. We did some shopping. _That_ was fun. Oh, this weekend I adopted him. That was a highlight, for sure.”

“Yeah, that was good,” Peter agreed, nodding and struggling to keep a straight face. He couldn’t believe Tony was telling them so nonchalantly but he kind of loved it and decided to go along. “Oh, they moved that taco truck over near Midtown. It’s closer now, which is great.”

“That’s true,” Tony smirked. “I’d forgotten about that. Yeah, that was a nice little surprise.”

No one said anything for a moment. Rhodey had just closed his eyes tiredly and was probably asking himself what he had done to deserve this. Mostly, everyone was just stunned. It was hard to tell how they felt about the news.

Scott was the first one to really react. A grin spread on his face and he laughed happily. “Hey, that’s awesome, you guys! Now it’s all official and everything, huh? Oh man, that must be great to finally… wait, why do you guys look so confused?” He looked around at everyone else. “Was this a surprise to you?”

“Tony,” Steve said, his tone controlled. “What are you saying?”

Tony’s eyebrows pinched together. “What do you mean?” he asked in feigned confusion. “I thought it was pretty straightforward there, Steve. I said I adopted Peter this weekend.”

“No, you didn’t. There’s no way you -”

He was cut off when Tony pulled the papers out from Peter’s laptop bag and slid them across the table. “You were saying?”

There was more silence then as everyone stared at the papers that had spread out only slightly when he slid them forward.

Natasha leaned forward, looking up from the papers at Tony. He expression was unreadable. “Tony… why did you do this?”

Tony frowned, cocking his head to the side. “Sorry, what?”

“What are you trying to prove, Tony?” Steve cut in. Natasha raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t comment. “Why would you do something like this?”

“I’m not trying to prove anything, Spangles, and if I were it certainly wouldn’t have anything to do with you,” Tony scoffed. He shook his head disbelievingly and kept going. “This isn’t about the fact that we’re not exactly friends. I would’ve done this anyway, regardless of how you felt about it.”

There was a moment of tense staring between the two of them and Peter closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to block everything out for just a moment. He hated this. He didn’t like the conflict all of this was causing.

Clint, who was sitting next to Peter, was the next one to speak into the matter. “Look, why are we arguing about it? I mean, it’s done so what’s the point? They’re happy so just let them be.”

Peter could’ve hugged him.

“I fail to understand what that has to do with this,” Vision said almost hesitantly. Someone groaned but Peter wasn’t sure who it was. “Given the reputation he has acquired, I think it would be wise to assess whether or not Tony was really a fit guardian for Peter.”

“Except that it’s not _up_ to you,” Tony responded, his tone dripping with annoyance. “It’s already been decided that I _am_ a fit guardian and by someone whose opinion actually means something here. It doesn’t matter what you think because it’s _over_. I’m only telling you all about this because you’re going to find out eventually and I’d rather it not be because Barnes was reading the gossip column in a magazine at the hair salon!”

“Tony has a point,” Natasha muttered, quirking an eyebrow upward at the hair salon comment. “It doesn’t really matter what we think.”

“No, because if Tony -” Steve tried to respond before Rhodey cut him off.

“Hang on a second,” he said with a long-suffering sigh. “Steve, what exactly do you plan to do? Let’s say for a second that you’re right. Are you going to take him to court or something? And then what? Are _you_ going to take care of Peter or will he just get tossed into the system for a couple years and then be left to fend for himself?”

Vision put a hand up and spoke before Steve could get an answer in. “Colonel Rhodes _does_ bring up a very good point. To attempt to change any of this would be a very big decision and would require -”

“Ok, wait,” Clint reached in front of Vision, signaling him to pause. “No, we are _not_ going to do that. Let me say it again, ok? They’re happy. Can we just leave it at that please?”

Tony shot Clint a grateful look and was about to say something but Sam beat him to it.

“Who’s happy though? Tony’s said more than Peter has.” He looked inquiringly at Peter. “Is this even what you wanted?”

Everyone seemed to be interested in what Peter had to say then, all turning to look at him with curious expressions. Some of them looked encouraging and others looked so serious that he felt like his answer was going to make or break this conversation. It was a good thing he didn’t have to think about it…

“Yeah, it’s exactly what I wanted,” he told them, making sure he sounded as confident as he tried to in his mask. “He’s my dad.” Even without looking over at him, Peter was aware of the proud look on Tony’s face.

“You can’t just say -”

“Yes, I can,” Peter interrupted sharply without even paying enough attention to notice who had said it. “I can say it because it’s true. He’s my dad and he was before anyone signed anything. But now he’s my dad legally too and I have his name and I have never wanted anything more than I wanted that, ok? I - I feel safe and happy with him and I don’t feel that way anywhere else anymore. You - you guys don’t - _can’t_ understand. He’s my dad, ok? Just - can we please just not argue about it because it’s true and you can’t do anything about it and we just wanted you to know before everyone else, ok?”

“I don’t understand why there’s even a problem,” Bucky sighed heavily, pushing his hair back with his real hand. He shot Steve a pointed look. “I’m honestly surprised they even told us. I probably wouldn’t’ve wanted to.”

Steve looked back just as pointedly. “It’s a problem, Bucky, because we’re talking about the wellbeing of a minor and some of us don’t think that Tony should be responsible for something like that.

Normally, Peter might’ve just stopped talking. He’d answered their questions already so he didn’t have to say anything else. But he wasn’t done.

“Why not?” He demanded heatedly. “Seriously, why? You told him before that he should stop drinking and he _did_! He hasn’t had a drop since then! He just sits in his kitchen and makes horrible food until he gets over any desire he has to go out and drink. It’s kind of disgusting most of the time but that’s ok because it’s helping and it means that he wants to get better _for me_. Because I’m his son, whether you like it or not. I don’t understand what your problem is!”

It was really only when Tony put a hand on the back of his neck and started to murmur things like ‘you’re ok’ and ‘breathe’ that Peter realized how tense he’d gotten and how much he’d raised his voice by the end. His eyes flickered to the side to see Tony’s worried and questioning expression.

“Sorry,” he breathed, wincing.

Tony smiled reassuringly at him. “Don’t be.”

Peter nodded and took a calming breath, looking back at Steve again. He had to work to keep his voice steady and calm. “There’s another reason, ok? Another reason he’s my dad. He helps me, like, _all_ the time. No matter what my problem is - and I have a _lot_ , believe me - he helps me. He calms me down and he makes me feel safe and he doesn’t let me beat myself up. He’s - he may not perfect, ok, but neither are you! And he’s perfect for being my dad!”

“I’m not trying to upset you,” Steve said, actually looking like he might have felt a little bad about it. “I’m just concerned. Believe me, I’m only trying to help.”

“Yeah, well you aren’t though, Cap,” Tony argued, not sounding necessarily angry but certainly still unhappy. “So just leave it, ok?”

Steve looked like he wanted to say more but only nodded concedingly and offered a smile that Peter thought was maybe supposed to indicate that there were no hard feelings. Peter wasn’t sure that went both ways.

“Well…” Rhodey said slowly, clasping his hands and placing them on the table. He looked around the table at the group of people currently avoiding making eye contact with one another. “I for one.. am very happy for you two. I finally get to be an uncle so I’m not complaining any! Never thought this day would come.” He grinned warmly at Tony, then Peter.

Natasha smiled too and nodded. “You’re right. What are we doing fighting again? Let’s just be happy for them right now. We can agree to disagree about something for now, right?”

“Well,” Tony nodded his head is the side, quirking an eyebrow upwards. “Yeah, I guess that can work for now.”

-

“ _Dad,_ what time are we leaving?” Peter asked near the beginning of dinner. He smirked when Steve looked over at him and visibly reminded himself not to say anything. Peter wasn’t ok with anyone having the idea that he didn’t want Tony to be his dad. Calling him ‘Tony’ wasn’t going to convince anyone that they’d been wrong to doubt.

“Uh, I guess as soon as we’re done eating,” Tony said, raising both eyebrows at Peter.

Peter nodded and went back to eating and listening to Bucky tell him stories about his life growing up. He really didn’t have the patience to listen to it from Steve but he didn’t mind it from Bucky.

Clint leaned over to Tony. “Hey, don’t worry about Steve, ok? He’s not a dad. He doesn’t get it.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tony said through a slightly tense smile. “I’m not worrying about him. I wish he didn’t get to Peter so much though.”

“Yeah,” Clint agreed and looked over at Peter, who was sitting a few seats away from Clint and Tony and now talking animatedly with Bucky and Wanda. “I think he’ll be ok. He’s Spider-Man, after all. And his dad’s Iron Man,” he said with a smirk in Tony’s direction.

Bruce got up from his seat then, leaning down at a tablet in his hand with pinched eyebrows. He came over to lean down between Tony and Clint’s seats. “Hey, Tony, have you been reading the news today?”

“Uh, which news? Global? Political? Sports? Celebrity? You need to specify,” Tony told him, turning in his chair to face him a little easier. “What am I supposed to have seen exactly?”

“Celebrity,” Bruce answered, rolled his eyes. He held the tablet out for Tony to see. “I think they’re onto you.”

His screen was displaying a side by side of the blurry picture Tony had posted online and a picture from the day Tony had punched Osborn. He wasn’t the main focus but Peter could be seen standing behind Tony and they’d placed a red circle around him to draw attention.

Tony frowned but nodded. “Yeah. I hadn’t seen that yet but I knew people were talking about the picture I posted. It’s ok.”

“But, Tony, why would you even post that in the first place?” Bruce asked, sounding concerned. “It just puts him on their radar.”

“I know,” Tony said, the tense smile returning. “We’re not keeping a secret. But he didn’t want me to make any announcements. We’re just letting it happen. It’s ok. Thanks for caring but it’s really ok, Bruce.”

Bruce didn’t look convinced but nodded and went back to his seat, still staring at the screen in his hand and scrolling through the article.

Tony sighed and looked over at Peter, hearing him telling Wanda a story about one of Tony’s muffin failures and pointedly referring to him as ‘my dad’ the whole time. He knew what Peter was doing. He was sticking it to everyone there who didn’t like that had happened. Almost flipping them off verbally and passive aggressively. Tony liked hearing him say it all the same.

He wanted to do whatever he could to make things easier for Peter. He had planned on calling a press conference to announce the adoption and introduce Peter but the second he’d mentioned it Peter had begged him not to do it. Ever a sucker for those puppy eyes, Tony had stopped thinking about it then and there. He didn’t even suggest making it smaller and less stressful or maybe saying that cameras weren’t allowed or something. He just dropped it then and there.

Even so, he wondered if it would have been better in the long run. He knew it would’ve been scary for Peter but he would’ve been committed to making it as secure as safe as he could. And this way, it could potentially be a slow process. Tony suspected it would blow up sooner or later but there was no way of knowing when exactly. Probably whenever Tony said something about it but he didn’t know when that would be.

Considering Peter hated to not know things so much, Tony was surprised he was ok with this waiting business. It was stressing Tony out, anyway.

He wanted to just not worry about it. He didn’t want Peter to worry about it… but it was difficult not to worry at least a little. Without being able to give some kind of public statement, Tony couldn’t help feeling a little like he had no control here. People could say whatever they wanted and there would be nothing to point to and say, “no, Tony Stark said this.” Really, people will say and believe what they want regardless but still… Tony would’ve felt better being able to say something.

They stayed at the compound long enough to eat some ice cream and Peter continued making absolutely certain that everyone knew exactly how he saw Tony. No one really said anything else about it, which Tony was glad about at least. There were still a few of them who seemed uncomfortable by the end of the evening but for the most part they had all gone back to the amicable place they’d been when Tony and Peter first showed up that day. It was nice to end it that way, even if there was a little more tension now. It was better than Tony would’ve hoped for.

-

Somehow, they managed to make it all the way to Friday without any major shift in public awareness.

Things went about the way they’d been going at school without much getting any better or any worse. Peter kept his head down as much as he could and tried his best to deal with all the stares and whispers. The biggest change towards the end of the week had been that some of the people who hadn’t had any luck in befriending Peter had been trying to get to know his actual friends instead, figuring that they could then get close to Peter by proxy.

He didn’t say anything about it to anyone but Tony but Peter was really starting to worry that his friends would get tired of this sooner or later.

The teachers were all struggling to remember the name change and Peter figured it was pretty understandable. He was having trouble himself and kept having to erase and rewrite his name any time he had to write it. So he didn’t say anything. Instead, he’d just sigh a little and respond to ‘Parker’ anyway.

But of course it would be just when Peter was starting to feel a little less freaked out that something would change.

It wasn’t that he was comfortable now. He still wasn’t and really thought he might never be again. At least at school, anyway… but he was getting used to it. He was pretty sure he had it figured out and could get used to it. He could adapt.

Unfortunately for Peter, his Parker luck hadn’t decided to leave when he got a new name. So he really should’ve known that everything would fall apart again the second he thought to himself, ‘this is ok now.’

School had been relatively uneventful that day. He made it home in good time and without incident. There was nothing new about Peter circulating the internet. Tony had made really good peanut butter cookies and fixed a problem with one of his suits that had been bugging him for days.

Basically, it had been an ok day.

Since they were both feeling pretty good by the time Peter got back tot he tower, they decided to go out for ice cream rather than just eat it at home out of the freezer.

As a couple of geniuses, they really should’ve seen it coming.

Traffic was a pain and their destination wasn’t that far. Those things combined with good weather made walking seem like the logical choice. Tony even wore casual clothes and a hat so he wouldn’t stick out so much.

It didn’t help much.

“Peter, stay behind me, ok?” Tony said suddenly at about the halfway point in their walk.

Just as he said it, Peter felt a faint tingling at the base of his skull and looked up to see a couple men with cameras standing around across the street. He furrowed his eyebrows and moved like Tony had said to.

“I don’t think they see me,” Tony told him, shaking his head a little and looking ahead rather than at the men. “They’re just hoping to spot someone noteworthy.”

Peter nodded and moved a little more. “What if they _do_ see you?”

“Then I guess they see me,” he answered with a shrug, looking at Peter over his shoulder. “And probably you too. It’s ok.”

They made it to the shop they’d been heading to without anyone stopped them, though Peter was almost positive that those guys had noticed them after all because he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. He may have been right but the first person to actually say anything was the kid working the cash register when they order their ice cream. He was maybe three or four years older than Peter and wearing an Iron Man t-shirt that looked homemade. They weren’t surprised when he recognized Tony under the hat and glasses.

“You… you’re Tony Stark,” he said almost reverently. He’d glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention before he said anything. Peter figured he could tell Tony was hiding a little and was decent enough to respect that.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Tony admitted with a smirk. “Let’s keep it kinda quiet though, ok? Just between us?”

The kid nodded rapidly and grinned. “Yeah, of course! Uh, I’m Devon. Can I take you order or…?”

“Yes!” Tony clapped his hands together and looked at Peter. “What’re you getting?”

Peter looked up at the menu behind Devon and shrugged helplessly. He hadn’t thought about yet. He’d been too distracted by the feeling still bugging him in the back of his neck. “Uh… I don’t know. You go first.”

“Wait, wait,” Devon said excitedly, his tone hushed so no one would pay attention. There weren’t that many people inside anyway. He looked straight at Peter. “You’re the intern, right?”

“The… intern?” Peter’s gaze flickered to Tony and then back to Devon again. “Um, I guess?”

“Nope,” Tony said then, still giving Devon a friendly smile. “Not my intern, actually. He’s my kid. I just adopted him on Saturday.”

Peter blanched and stared up at him. “ _Tony_ ,” he hissed. “What are you doing?”

“Uh, _not_ lying,” Tony answered with a smirk, nudging Peter’s arm. “It’s fine.”

“Wait, _seriously_?” Devon asked, looking between the two of them. “When are you gonna tell everyone?”

Tony shrugged nonchalantly. “Apparently never? We’re just letting the world figure it out, I guess.”

“Well… can I maybe, like, get a picture with you or something?” Devon asked awkwardly, chewing his lip and rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m just… I’m a _really_ big fan.”

Tony squinted his eyes for a moment and Peter wasn’t sure if he was actually thinking about it or just acting like he was. Then he nodded and Devon and his smile returned. “Yeah, sure. Just don’t post it anywhere until after we leave the building, deal?”

Devon nodded excitedly and pulled out his phone to take a selfie with Tony, who leaned in willingly and put on a showy smile. Once Devon had looked down at the picture and decided he was happy with it, he looked up at Peter.

“Can I get one with you too?” he asked.

Peter’s eyes widened and he looked to Tony for assistance.

Tony just grinned at him. “Sure, Peter’ll take a picture with you. Go ahead, Peter.” When Peter didn’t move at all and just continued to stare at Tony, pulled off his sunglasses and handed them to the teenager. “Put these on. It’ll boost your confidence.

Peter looked at him skeptically but took them anyway, slipping them onto his face as Devon held out his phone. His attempt at a smile was more of a grimace but Devon didn’t seem to mind.

Tony just ordered for both of them since Peter still didn’t know what he wanted and agreed to sign a napkin for Devon before going to sit in the corner. Peter handed him back his glasses and tried not to slide under the table.

“That was so awkward, Tony,” he whined. “Why did you make me do it?”

“Because people are going to ask you a lot soon enough,” Tony explained, shrugging and slipping the now folded glasses into his jacket pocket. “You can’t just _always_ say no. Might as well start getting used to it now, right?”

“I guess,” Peter frowned, sounding completely unconvinced.

No one else bothered them while they ate their ice cream, though Devon kept looking over at them like he couldn’t quite believe he wasn’t dreaming.

Tony had gotten Peter something with all kinds of chocolate in it and he wasn’t complaining any. Even though he was feeling a little more fidgety than usual, which was already a lot, and he _knew_ those guys would probably still be there when they left, Peter actually had a good time.

School had been taking up most of Peter’s time since it had started up again. Even when he was home, he was mostly worrying about the next day would be like and trying to do his homework. He’d only gone out as Spider-Man twice since the adoption. It just felt like he hadn’t been doing much other than worrying.

Going out for a little while and enjoying each other’s company was nice. It was good to have a break, even if it wouldn’t last long.

Peter had just finished his ice cream and was using the spoon to get the last melted bits of chocolatey goodness from the bottom of the paper cup when he felt that tingled warning he both loved and hated and turned to look across the small shop and out the glass doors.

There was a small gathering of people waiting around on the sidewalk and one of them, a woman with a sour expression of her face and blond hair pulled back into a ponytail so tight it looked painful, was cupping her hands around her eyes and pressing her face to the glass.

“Tony,” Peter said softly, not looking away from the woman at the window.

Tony followed Peter’s gaze and sighed. “Right.”

“What do we do?” Peter asked, forcing himself to tear his eyes away and look at Tony instead.

With another sigh, Tony looked over at Devon, furrowing his eyebrows. “Hey,” he called, getting his attention immediately. The kid looked over at him with wide eyes. “You didn’t tell anyone you met us, right? We agreed on waiting until we’re gone.”

“What? Of course not, Mr. Stark!” Devon exclaimed earnestly, shaking his head wildly. “I wouldn’t do that to you!”

“Ok, hey,” Tony said, putting a hand out to try and calm the kid down. “I’m not mad. Ok? I believe you.”

Peter leaned closer to Tony, tugging his sleeves down and glancing at the window again out of the corner of his eye. “Let’s just leave, ok? We’re done anyway and we can’t just sit here forever and hope they leave first.”

Tony studied Peter’s face for a minute. He was right but Tony wasn’t sure he really meant it. “They’re going to try to talk to us, kid.”

Peter nodded and kept a brave face. “I know. You’re with me. I’m ok.”

Looking towards the window with an uncertain expression, Tony sighed once again. “You’re sure?”

“I don’t feel like we _really_ have a choice,” Peter replied, tossing his now empty paper cup at the trashcan and making the shot without even looking. “Come on. Let’s just get it over with.”

Tony looked hard at Peter and nodded tersely, pulling his sunglasses back out of his pocket as he stood up. “Ok, come here.”

Peter stood up too and only raised a questioning eyebrow when Tony slid the sunglasses back onto Peter’s face again.

“Confidence and all that, right?” Tony smiled and looked over at Devon as he led Peter out of the shop. He flashed a grin and gave the kid a quick wave. “See you around. We’ll probably be back. The ice cream was good.”

Peter rolled his eyes a little but didn’t say anything. Tony kept Peter right behind his back, holding back both of his hands to hold onto one of Peter’s as they went through the door.

“Just keep your head down,” Tony muttered just as the people who had been waiting seemed to surge forward.

“Mr. Stark, can you answer a few questions?” The blonde woman asked eagerly, holding out a small square shaped microphone. “We all want to know who this is with you!”

The sounds of the cameras around them were enough to make Peter squeeze Tony’s hands, trying his hardest to avoid burying his face against Tony’s back. He didn’t _really_ want that circulating the internet.

“That’s… not a question,” Tony stated with an almost cocky smirk on his face. “You said you had questions.” He pulled one hand away from Peter and held it out a little ways in front of him to try and get the people snapping pictures to move enough for them to start back down the street.

Peter looked up then and flinched when a camera flashed in his face. If he hadn’t been holding onto Tony’s hand he probably would’ve been trying to hug his arms to his chest and be as small as he could.

The woman was still talking to Tony, who was walking faster and pulling Peter along with him. Peter had stopped listening. It wasn’t intentional. He’d just lost focus.

“Listen, maybe if you all cool it with the cameras I’d be a little more willing to stop and talk to you,” Tony said, raising his voice a little. His tone was falsely pleasant.

The woman stopped walking and for some reason so did Tony.

“Wait, really?” she asked.

Tony looked over his shoulder and Peter and then shrugged once he could see that Peter was holding up pretty well. “Sure. Why not? Just _seriously_ quit with the cameras.”

Peter didn’t think that each other the people taking pictures actually had any connection to the woman but they stopped anyway, lowering their cameras awkwardly like they weren’t sure what they were supposed to do then. Some of them still took some pictures but it had calmed down significantly.

Tony angled himself so that Peter could stand behind him still and with his back to the wall. There were random bystanders stopping to try and see what was going on by then and even without the camera still going off rapid fire there was a lot to take in.

“Can you tell us who the kid is?” The woman tried again, holding her small microphone forward. A couple other people were trying to record them as well.

Raising an eyebrow at her, Tony considered playing some word games but then just said, “yeah, he’s Peter. He’s mine.”

Peter just stood behind him and watched him nervously.

_Breathe._

“What else? Come on, we’re not going to stand here all day,” Tony said impatiently.

“Is it true he’s your son?” A man asked. He was only recording through his smart phone. Peter was pretty sure he wasn’t a real reporter. Maybe a blogger or something.

“Yes,” Tony answered, looking back at Peter again. He noticed him trying to calm him breathing and then looked forward again with a plastered on smile. “Just remembered we have somewhere to be.”

He tugged Peter forward and then pulled his hands around and let go to hold onto Peter’s shoulders and keep him in front instead since they’d gotten ahead of the people. There were still a feel people standing here and there along the sidewalks filming them with their phones but the cameras and reports were behind them so Tony had decided that Peter was going to have to move.

“You’re doing great, kid,” Tony told him, not missing the way Peter folded his arms the minute his hands had been freed.

“I’m not,” Peter muttered, biting his lip hard and resisting looking behind them. Some of the people had apparently given up and weren’t following them anymore but there were still some keeping a safe distance while they tried to get good pictures to sell to news sites. Peter had never imagined being the kind of person to end up in those pictures. “I feel completely exposed.”

Tony squeezed Peter’s tense shoulders. “I know. But you’re still doing great. You’re breathing, anyway, and that’s always a plus.”

“Sure,” Peter said through something between a sigh and a chuckle.

Eventually, most of the people had stopped trailing them. Though even having just a couple people continuing to snap pictures of them made more of the people they passed take notice of them. There were a lot of cellphones pulled out to film or photograph them.

Once it had calmed down a little, though Tony definitely thought it could’ve been a lot worse to start with, they walked side by side instead and with Tony’s arm slung across Peter’s shoulders. When they were nearing the tower, Tony veered off to a bench in front of some random store. They didn’t sit, opting to just stand next to it for a moment since Tony wasn’t intending to stay there very long.

“Listen, there’s a good chance people know we’re out right now. So there might be people waiting in front of the tower,” he told Peter. “Happy won’t have let them into the lobby so we just have to get past them and we’ll be ok. I would say we could just slip in through the garage but from the angle we’re coming at, we’ll at least have to walk by anyone who’d there and then they’ll just follow us around to the garage entrance.”

“Ok…” Peter nodded and started chewing on his lip again. “Well, what are we going to do? Are you going to answer questions again or do we just try and get past? Since it’s your building, couldn’t you just tell them to leave?”

“Well, first,” Tony started, smirking at Peter. “Let’s work on not asking seventeen questions at once -”

“It was three,” Peter mumbled through a smile.

“- but no, I’m not planning on answering any questions,” he continued, ignoring Peter’s interruption. “I have a meeting I’m supposed to be at and I don’t have time to deal with more people right now. That and I don’t really want to make you sit through more of that at the moment.”

Peter shrugged. “Yeah, but I’m supposed to get used to it, remember?”

Tony hummed with a shrug of his own. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and did a quick search, raising his eyebrows a moment later. “Yeah, people are talking about it, all right.”

“What are they saying?” Peter furrowed his eyebrows, leaning to look at Tony’s phone.

“Well, there are no actual articles yet but apparently I’m trending on Twitter and it’s mostly about you.” He sighed and called Happy, holding the phone to his ear while he waited. Peter could hear Happy’s ‘hello’ when he picked up the call. “Hey, Hap. Do me a favor, can you tell me if there’s anyone waiting around outside the tower? Like reporters and whatnot. There aren’t? Really? Well, that’s a nice surprise. Ok, Pete and I will be back in a few minutes.” He shoved his phone away and looked down at Peter. “Well, apparently it’s all clear! Let’s hurry and make sure it stays that way at least until we get inside.”

It sounded a little too good to be true to Peter so he went back home with Tony still feeling a little on edge and plenty cautious. Surprisingly, they made it back inside and up the elevator without attracting too much attention. The same couple of guys continued to trail along behind them all the way to the tower, which was when Peter risked a look back at them and realized they were the same ones they’d seen before the ice cream shop. Apparently, they were determined. They also definitely got pictures of Peter looking straight at them, still wearing Tony’s blue tinted sunglasses.

Tony had to leave for his meeting almost as soon as they got inside but he told Peter to call him if he needed him for any reason. Luckily, the meeting was just in a different level of the tower so it wasn’t as if he was that far away.

Still, Peter would’ve liked a little company to distract him if nothing else. Ending up alone for a few hours, Peter mostly sat on his couch with his laptop and read everything people were saying. He wanted to not care but found that he couldn’t seem to stop scrolling once he’d started.

At that point, there wasn’t much being said. Mostly, people were confused. They wanted to know what was going on and who Peter was. All anyone really had as far as pictures before was the one Tony had posted and then a few where they’d managed to find him in pictures of Tony from things like the event where he’d broken Osborn’s jaw. Now there were a lot of pictures of them sitting in an ice cream shop and walking down the street with Peter either hiding behind Tony or held securely in front of him.

Peter wasn’t sure why he was looking at the same pictures being reposted over and over or why he couldn’t stop watching the short video of Tony saying Peter was his kid as soon as it went online. He wasn’t even sure how he felt about it. Mostly it was just weird… He was used to seeing pictures of Spider-Man and had always thought that was pretty cool. But pictures of Peter just being himself and doing things as mundane as walking down the street or eating ice cream? That was strange.

But he figured that if Tony could deal with it he could at least try to as well. He wondered if it would ever stop being weird… he was guessing it wouldn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so life continues to change.
> 
> Steve is going to back off considerably after this, you guys. Not saying there's no more conflict involving him... because there is. But he's not trying going to try and argue this anymore.
> 
> Also, the thing about Scott taking Cassie to Rhinebeck was a reference to the candy shop Paul Rudd and Jeffery Dean Morgan bought in Rhinebeck in real life. ;D


	30. Chapter Thirty

After that first encounter with the press, nothing was really the same.

Now that it had been confirmed that Peter was Tony’s son, there were more and more people putting in their two cents about it. Peter was having a lot of trouble not reading all of it.

Tony decided not to bother trying to keep Peter completely in the dark about it all. It seemed pointless to try and stop him from reading or hearing anything and probably impossible too. But he still didn’t like how much attention peter was paying to it all.

More than anything, Peter was just getting used to being in the public eye. He didn’t actually seem to be that concerned with what people were saying, which was mostly just a bunch of repetitive wondering anyway.

Everyone wanted to know who exactly Peter was. They knew he was Tony’s son but was he adopted or biological? How long had he been around? Why wasn’t Tony clearing the whole thing up?

Peter had noticed some kids he was vaguely aware of at school trying to use the fact that they were classmates to get more followers online. It was actually working pretty well. They would answer people’s questions about Peter and just make things up. People believed it. But it was all inconsistent so lots of people said it was a bunch of lies.

Most of it didn’t bother Peter. Go ahead and let these kids claim that Peter had gone to their birthday party that year and they were best friends. Who cared?

Some of it bugged him though. He didn’t exactly like the idea of them convincing the world that he was some stuck up jerk who wouldn’t talk to the other kids at school. Though maybe they didn’t think they were lying… he _had_ been avoiding all forms of conversation so maybe that was what they really thought of him.

It was when he expressed that concern that Tony put a limit on how much time he was allowed to look at all that stuff. Now if he’d been looking for more than an hour, FRIDAY would cut off his internet.

Saturday was a little crazy on the internet front. Tony had decided that since it had now been one week of Peter being a Stark, he wanted to post another picture of him on each of the social media platforms he used. So when they went out tacos, Tony took a picture of his kid in the process of trying to bite into his food. He got the picture right at the moment that Peter realized he was about to lose a lot of food from the back of the taco so there was a blur that could be barely identified as his hand flying out to catch it and his eyes were wide.

Tony thought it was a brilliant picture and posted it even when Peter begged him to delete it.

Now that everyone knew what Peter looked like and knew his name already, Tony figured they would find him online sooner or later anyway and there wasn’t much reason _not_ to tag him. That absolutely murdered the battery on Peter’s phone. As soon as people were able to follow him, they did. The notifications were a little too much for his phone to handle, apparently.

“Pro tip,” Tony had said with a smirk in response to the horror on Peter’s face. “Turn off your notifications. That way you’ll still be able to actually use your phone.”

Peter had complained about it the rest of the day. If Tony heard him calling Ned that night to freak out about the sudden influx of followers online, he didn’t say anything.

Tony tagging Peter in the taco picture brought up yet another thing people tried to ask him at school. Now that they had followed him, they all wanted him to return the gesture. Apparently they thought that going to school with him should mean that he would want to follow them. He really didn’t, which was why he’d barely followed anyone in the first place.

According to the supposed social media code the general public seemed to have adopted, it was rude of him to say no when classmates asked him to follow them. He got a lot of annoyed looks when he started saying no to that one…

Really, Peter was trying to just let people say what they wanted for the time being. It wasn’t until the beginning of the third week that he finally spoke up to someone. He’d heard a lot of people talking at school and they all had their theories and opinions. Mostly, he heard nothing that seemed worth his time so he was really trying not to worry about it.

Tony had told him from the beginning that people were going to say and do things that he didn’t like and were going to believe things that weren’t true. It would be hard to hear sometimes but he couldn’t say or do something each time.

He had to pick his battles.

“Hey, Parker,” Flash called smugly as he passed Peter in the hall near the end of the second week. And that was what finally did it.

See, Peter could deal with the teachers forgetting and using his former surname out of habit. It was perfectly understandable and he wanted to be respectful so he wasn’t going to just keep correcting them. But Flash? Well, Peter didn’t really care whether or not it was habit.

“It’s Stark, actually,” Peter replied without turning away from his locker. He heard Flash stop walking and turn around to look at him.

“What?” Flash scoffed.

“I said it’s Stark now, Flash,” Peter told him, only slightly glancing at him as he shoved his books into his backpack.

Flash stepped closer to him, shoving some other kid aside carelessly. People had stopped to watch, curious about what was going to happen. “Really? You get adopted by a billionaire and now you think you’re better than everyone, is that it, _Parker_?”

And that was when Peter turned around.

He spun on his heel almost immediately and narrowed his eyes at Flash. “No. I just think my name is Stark now.”

Flash gave a short, harsh laugh; almost a scoff. “You gonna start cashing in on that now? Start rubbing it in everyone’s face that you live with a famous guy and people are talking about you on Buzzfeed and TMZ? Geez, you are so full of yourself.” He shook his head in a disbelieving fashion like he was disappointed in Peter or something.

“I never said any of that, Flash,” Peter argued, still trying to keep his voice steady. He wasn’t used to sticking up for himself. “And I don’t just _live_ with a famous guy. He’s my dad.”

“Oh yeah?” Flash asked challengingly as he stepped closer to Peter so that there was hardly any space left between them.

Peter didn’t budge.

Just as Flash was about to say something more, someone to the left of them muttered a quick warning before he and some of the other kids started to keep moving down the hall.

“ _Morita!_ ” He’d said, just before the principal rounded the corner.

Most of the students standing around went back about their business, walking off down the hall or chatting with their friends as if they had been the whole time. But Flash and Peter didn’t move. Neither of them spoke. Rather, they stood exactly as they been, so close their toes would’ve been touching if either had moved forward, and kept an almost aggressive eye contact.

Principal Morita walked towards them, adopting a concerned expression. “Is there a problem here, boys? Mr. Thompson? Mr. Stark?”

He raised an eyebrow as Flash bristled slightly and Peter smirked nearly undetectably.

“No problem, Mr. Morita,” Peter said then, moving back from Flash but not taking his eyes off of him. “Flash is just having some trouble getting used to change.”

Flash glared at him before shaking it off and offering a deceitfully friendly smile instead. “Well, good thing Peter here is kind enough to help. Gotta get to class now. See you around, _Stark_ ,” he said, sneering as he said the name before he turned on his heel and walked off down the hall.

Peter looked at Mr. Morita then and tried to smile innocently. “Everything’s fine, Mr. Morita.”

The principal didn’t look convinced and glanced in the direction Flash had gone. “Well… just keep out of trouble. You’d better head to class as well.”

Peter nodded and hurried off down the hall as the principal went the other way. His class was unfortunately with Flash, who was clearly not feeling that great towards Peter at the moment. Though when was he ever?

He waited a few minutes into the class so that he could look like he was going to pay attention at the start and then pulled his phone out to text Tony. Flash was glaring venomously at him from a few seats down but Peter opted to ignore him.

**Hey there. I almost got in a fight with Flash a few minutes ago. :)**

All he got in response was one word.

**Explain.**

Peter grinned and typed a response, trying to condense the story while still giving Tony the actual details. He was honestly pretty pleased with himself. If he was going to stand up to anyone, he didn’t mind it being Flash. And if he was going to stand up to Flash about anything, he certainly didn’t mind it being his name.

Even though he had a lot of questions - Peter guess he’d been a little worried - Tony seemed pretty happy for Peter too. He told Peter that _he_ probably would’ve said something long ago in Peter’s position but was glad that Peter had gotten up the courage to do it then. He also told him to avoid getting in trouble for fighting because there were definitely sports cars in need of cleaning.

Peter rolled his eyes at that comment but couldn’t help grinning too.

It struck Peter that he could feel himself growing a little more comfortable with all of this each day. He was already comfortable in the tower with Tony but he was having an easier time dealing with everything else and he could tell. But it wasn’t even just that he was more comfortable with the adoption and the changes that came with it. He was just more comfortable.

Before Tony, Peter never would’ve stood up to Flash. He’d imagine doing it and try to convince himself to but he wouldn’t have actually done it.

Rhodey had said something to Peter that evening that they’d been at the compound and had told the Avengers about the adoption. He’d said, “You should have quite a boost of confidence, going through the rest of your life with ‘Stark’ as a last name.”

Peter wondered if that was what this was. Or maybe it was just the time he’d spent with Tony and the change in him that Tony had been able to make.

Now that he thought about it though, it was probably just those ridiculous sunglasses...

-

“Hey, kid,” Tony called as he came into the kitchen where Peter was making himself hot chocolate. He was planning to drink it while he ate his macaroni and cheese, which was a combination Tony thought sounded disgusting and made comments about every time Peter had it.

“Hi,” Peter greeted with a cheery smile. “Something going on? You walked in like you had a purpose.”

Tony nodded and sat at the counter across from where Peter stood stirring his drink. “It’s the weekend, so I’m not worrying about your school. You in the mood for an Avengers team up?”

Peter’s face lit up at that and he forgot his hot chocolate for the time being. “Really?” He leaned forward on the wide counter. “Is something happening? Is there a mission?”

“Yeah,” he answered, nodding again. “There’s a possibility something’s going down on the Staten Island Ferry today.”

“Something like…?” Peter prompted, moving the spoon he was still holding in a circular motion in the space between them.

“We don’t know,” Tony told him, shrugging casually. “Could be terrorists, could be nothing, could be something in between. We just know there’re supposedly going to be some men on the ferry trying to do something. We’re going to try and put a lid on it before it even starts, if we can.”

Peter furrowed his eyebrows in consideration and nodded slowly. “Ok… So, why the Avengers? Like why is this something for a team of superheroes to deal with?”

“Well, we’ve been trying to figure out what the deal was with that scientist who died at Oscorp -”

“Sorry,” Peter cut in, holding up his spoon. “Are you changing the subject?”

“No, actually,” Tony informed him with a smirk, reaching over and moving Peter’s hand back down to put the spoon in the cup again. “There’s another scientist who might know something. Might even be willing to talk since he just put in his two week’s notice and we’re wondering how loyal he is to past employers. He’s going to be on that ferry. We don’t think that’s just an interesting coincidence.”

Peter looked intrigued at that, tipping his head to the side and trying to hold back an excited grin. “So this is a rescue mission and a potential interrogation?”

“I’m hoping we won’t have to _interrogate_ anyone, Peter, and if we do,” he smirked again. “You will have nothing to do with that part of it. We’ll just leave that to people who have some amount of skill in that area.”

“I -”

Tony made a shushing sound and placed a hand on top of Peter’s head. “Don’t even try to argue that. You can’t win.”

Peter grinned and ducked out from under his dad’s hand going to heat his drink up again. It had gotten too cold for his liking while they’d been talking and he certainly wasn’t going to drink it like that.

He had enough time to finish his food - all while Tony told him how weird he was for eating it - before they went to the compound to meet with the rest of the Avengers before the mission. Happy drove them so Tony only brought a suit along. Peter considered wearing his underneath his regular clothes so he wouldn’t have to change all the way but Tony said he wasn’t even sure yet if everyone was going in so he might as well just bring it in his backpack and change into it if the situation called for it.

The fact that they didn’t really know if they needed Spider-Man was a bit of a disappointment but Peter shook it off, glad to be included at all. He’d been continuing to train with Clint, who said that Peter would already be on the team if it were up to him. At this point, Peter had no idea how Tony felt about the possibility. As for as he knew, the topic hadn’t been breached amongst the team and if it had no one had felt like filling Peter in.

Point being that no matter how close Peter was or wasn’t, he still wasn’t actually an Avenger. He didn’t mind but it definitely meant that he didn’t get to work with them that often.

Actually, the more he thought about the happier he was that he was being included even when there was only a chance they’d need him. Before he only teamed up with the Avengers when they knew they’d need his help. Otherwise, he was in the way.

Everyone was pretty focused when the Starks got to the compound. It was a little strange to see them all on the same page and thinking about the same thing. Even when they came for meetings, there would be a few of them who weren’t participating and were spending their time doing something else entirely. It was rare for all of them to be gathered together and turning their attention to one common goal or purpose.

Tony said it wasn’t that strange but, once again, Peter wasn’t usually around for these kinds of things. And when he did get to team up with them it was usually mid fight or mission. He wasn’t a part of anything beforehand.

“All right, Cap, do we have a plan yet?” Tony questioned in place of a greeting as he walked into the room the Avengers were all gathered in, his arm slung easily around Peter’s shoulder.

Steve looked up at them, his face showing a small amount of surprise. “Oh. You’re here, good. We were just working on getting a plan together. Tony, you can help.”

“Can I really? Thanks,” Tony said in a sarcastically cheery tone. Peter was pretty sure he only said it to see Steve’s struggle not to give an exasperated reply. He’d been trying not to feed the tension between the three of them and Tony really wasn’t helping.

Was it awful that Peter kinda thought it was a little funny?

Steve’s mouth was pressed into a thin line as he turned back to the screen they’d all been looking at as they planned out their course of action. He exhaled slowly through his nose, trying to calm himself to just keep his mouth shut.

“So, uh, we’ve been talking about how we’re going to handle this,” Clint interjected in a determined tone - the kind he probably used around the dinner table while trying to get his kids to stop bickering. “We’re thinking since we don’t know yet what’s going on here it might be smart to have someone on the ferry already.”

“Right,” Steve continued, nodded his expression shifted to something more focused that uncomfortable look he’d been wearing before. “We only have a loose timeframe here. With the ferry departing every half hour, we don’t want to risk missing the one they’re on. I think it would be a good move to put someone on the ferry one after another. There’s a very small chance that we’ll need every man on the ferry while we try to put an end to whatever the situation ends up being so it won’t be a problem to have a few of us on ferries that don’t end up being a part of the equation. Whoever we put there will just sit it out.”

Tony nodded, putting aside his issue with Steve as well and turning his attention to the mission. He pulled out a chair and sat leaned back in it. “Right. So what about everyone else? How are we all going to get onto whichever ferry it ends up being?”

“We’ll only send in the people who can get there on their own,” Steve explained. “So that’s you, Rhodes, Sam, Wanda, and Vision if we need him too. Everyone else will either be on a ferry already or with me in the quinjet trying to survey everything from a distance. And if we need to, we can fly the quinjet out to the ferry and get on to help. I’m hoping it won’t get big enough for that.”

“What am I going to do?” Peter asked, trying to not appear too eager as he leaned forward in his seat, which was right by Tony’s.

“On a ferry,” Steve informed him plainly.

Tony straightened in his seat. “I thought we weren’t bringing him in unless we needed to. Why not put Peter on the quinjet?”

Peter resisted the urge to roll his eyes at that. “Who says I’ll even be in the one they end up boarding though? There’s a fifty-fifty chance I’d be completely out of the way.”

Steve nodded a little and offered his own answer. “We need the people stationed on the ferry to be able to blend in. Peter’s just an average kid from Queens. He can blend in just fine.”

“He’s not exactly _average_ , Spangles,” Tony interrupted dryly.

“We’ll put Scott on another. Maybe Bruce. He’s pretty good at blending in and most people only notice him when he’s a little more green,” Steve continued, ignoring Tony and now addressing the whole team. “Possibly Nat or Clint but I’m not sure yet. It’s not as easy for them to go undercover as it used to be.”

He kept walking them all through the plan and Tony leaned slightly in Peter’s direction, tuning out of Steve’s briefing. Peter noticed and turned his attention to him immediately.

“Pete, you need to make sure you follow orders if you’re going to do this, ok?” He muttered under his breath. “I don’t want you acting on your own and getting into trouble. You’ll be completely alone until we can get to you. I’m serious, I need you to tell me you’re going to listen and be smart, ok?”

“Yeah,” Peter said earnestly. “I’ll do whatever the team says, I swear.”

-

Peter was a little annoyed he’d been made to leave his suit behind.

He hadn’t even been allowed to bring it on the ferry with a backpack because they were so sure that even if it was _his_ ferry there would be so need for Spider-Man. They’d be able to take care of everything in the time it would take him to get cover and change out of his jeans and sweatshirt and into the suit.

They hadn’t liked his suggestion of wearing it under his clothes either because they said he would still need to go get cover to strip the clothes off and put the mask on.

Having a secret identity was hard sometimes.

So there he was, sitting on the ferry with his shoulder pressed up to the window as he avoided being squished by the chatty middle aged woman next to him. She’d been talking to everyone about her son, who was an amazing astronaut and very deserving of the high praise he received from his father constantly. So far, she hadn’t spoken directly to Peter, though she had made some comment about how _her_ son had been so bright as a teenager and hadn’t been as anti-social and moody as the ones today. Peter sort of thought she was annoyed that he’d been very pointedly not talking to anyone. He wasn’t aware of the face that it some sort of rule to make friends with everyone sitting around how on the ferry but she seemed to think it was.

He’d been given a comm so that he could stay in contact with the team and had been tasked with trying to remain inconspicuous while scanning the crowd for any signs that the men they were looking for were there. The problem was that he didn’t have a very solid idea of what he was trying to spot…

It would’ve been easier if he’d been in suit and couldn’t used its enhanced reconnaissance mode to listen for any suspicious conversations. Unfortunately, he had to leave that up to the Avengers as they scanned the ship from a distance using his dad’s tech. They’d tell him if there was anything to investigate from his seat.

Tony had been very clear that Peter was not to get out of his seat unless he was ordered to by one of the Avengers.

“ _Peter, do you see the four men on the far left_?” Steve’s voice suddenly spoke in his ear, making him jump a little. He smiled sheepishly when the talkative woman beside him sent a glare in his direction. “ _They’re near the old man with the mustache and glasses._ ”

Peter glanced around at the people, glad that it wasn’t too terribly crowded. He tried not to move anything but his eyes if he could help it, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. Once he saw them, he looked away again and stared down at the toes of his scuffed sneakers.

“Yeah,” he said under his breath, hoping no one had heard him.

“ _We think it’s them._ ”

Peter stilled at that. He had secretly hoped it would be his ferry, at least to he could watch the Avengers fight or maybe help out with getting all the passengers to safety or something. At the same time, he knew Tony had been concerned about it so he hoped for his sake that they were wrong about these guys.

“ _We need to figure out if we’re right and then decide on our course of action,_ ” Steve said in his ear. Peter pulled out his phone and scrolled through texts to look busy while he listened. “ _For now, start figuring out the safest exists. If he move in, you’re going to help us evacuate the area as much as we can on open water, understood?_ ”

“Sure thing,” Peter said so quietly he wasn’t sure Steve had even heard him. But no one spoke in his comm again so he assumed they’d either heard him or was assuming he’d listen.

Apparently, the Oscorp scientist had been identified on the second outer deck. He wasn’t doing anything but reading a book but the Avengers thought he seemed nervous, like he knew something was going to happen.

Peter had no clue if that meant he knew someone was trying to get to him or if maybe this whole thing was a set up to get to the Avengers somehow. Either way, it didn’t sound good.

It was when one of the men stood up and left to go to the deck the scientist was on that things really started to happen.

When he stood from his seat, they’d noticed a gun tucked into the back of his jeans, hidden under his jacket after he’d readjusted the material, looking around quickly to make sure no one had noticed. Peter had been quick to lower his eyes.

Another one the men followed him a few minutes later and though Peter couldn’t see it he was told that this man had a gun as well.

That left two more of them.

Peter didn’t really know what was going on the lower deck but he knew it was something. A few of the Avengers had moved in and were trying to stop whatever was going on. The men must’ve had comms of their own because the two men Peter was watching were getting just as fidgety as he was, like they knew there was a fight about to go down.

The Avengers hardly gave Peter any updates or information and he couldn’t hear any of the conversation over the comms since they’d set his up so that he could only hear was said to him directly.

When they finally spoke to him, he froze again and tried his hardest not to react too much.

It was partially to avoid drawing attention and partially so none of the Avengers would think any less of him than they already did.

“ _The other two have guns as well, Peter_.” Steve told him. “ _They’re on the bench next to them. Can you see them?_ ”

Peter glanced over. They were covered by a jacket but yes, there was at least one gun visible slightly if you knew to look for it.

“Yes.”

“ _They’re going to try and take your deck hostage. Don’t let them. Get the guns as subtly as you can and get outside. We’ll send someone to come get them from you and take care of the men._ ”

“Wait, get the - you want me to go over there?” Peter asked, fighting to keep his voice down. The woman next to him was still talking endlessly but was also looking at Peter as if he had too many heads.

Steve confirmed his plan and then Peter heard his dad’s voice respond, his tone completely serious. “ _You let anything happen to my kid and you’re dead, Rogers._ ”

“ _He’s not fighting them. It’ll be fine,_ ” Steve argued. “ _Peter, are you willing to try and get the guns?_ ”

Peter took a shuddering breath and said he was. Then he stood and stepped outside, still keeping a careful eye of the men through the windows.

“ _What are you doing outside_?” Steve questioned him, sounding a little impatient.

“I don’t know. It’ll look weird if I just walk over to them. I’ll just go back in and pretend I decided to sit somewhere else,” Peter told him.

Really, he just wanted to breathe first. He’d never done anything like this before. Not even as Spider-Man but certainly not as Peter. He was willing to give it his best. All he had to do first was steady his breathing and get a grip.

Once he’d steeled himself, he went back inside and took the time to meander a bit, pretending to be interesting in something, though even _he_ had no clue what, and then sat down directly behind the two men. He had a clear view of the gun resting under the jacket now. He thought he could maybe manage reaching under the jacket and slipping the weapon out but he didn’t know how he could get both of them if he could only see one.

Figuring the best thing to do would be to just worry about the first one for the time being, Peter moved his hand toward it as slowly as he could. He was trying his hardest not to be detectable so as much as he wanted to watch the man sitting just sit the jacket he kept his eyes down. With his luck, the man would feel Peter’s eyes on him and turn.

Just as he felt the weapon beneath his fingers, Peter’s spider sense sent a jolt of warning and the man’s hand flew out to curl tightly around Peter’s wrist.

Before Peter had time to react beyond a startled gasp, he was pulled roughly to his feet and both men were holding their guns out to the other people on the ferry.

The man who wasn’t gripping Peter’s wrist announced loudly to everyone that they were taking control of the deck until the Avengers agreed to let them off safely the second the ferry reached the dock. They knew the Avengers could hear them even without being immediately present.

_Breathe. Breathe._

Normally, Peter would be trying to make a plan - and a part of him as really trying to. But at the same time, he could hardly think of anything other the hand curled right over his scars with only a sweatshirt sleeve protecting him direct contact. His heart was pounding and he barely registered being pulling around so that his back was pressed against the larger man’s chest. In fact, he didn’t really notice until his wrist was free and the man’s arm clamped down over Peter’s front, just below his collarbone, keeping his from moving anywhere.

“ _They’ve got Peter,_ ” he heard Steve say in his ear. “ _Hang on, we’ll get you out._ ”

Steve sounded ridiculously calm and especially in comparison to the tone Tony’s voice held as he cursed over the comms. Steve must’ve opened Peter’s connection because no he could everyone as they tried to plan what to do. He couldn’t pay enough to hear them all though.

Both men were pointing their pistols from person to person and all Peter could do was watch their terrified faces as they cowered in the seats, no one seeming to be sure of what to do. None of them wanted to risk trying to get to the outer deck and what good would it do anyway when they could them outside as well?

The people who were already out there were starting to frantic as they looked through the windows and tried to understand what was happening. There were people holding onto children or shielding them behind them just in case the guns started firing on them.

Peter hated that he couldn’t help.

His webshooters were on, just as they always were, but he couldn’t use them without giving himself away.

He tried to listen again to what the Avengers were saying in his ear, trying to get an idea of what they were going to do. He wanted to ask but didn’t want these guys noticing the comm.

The last thing he heard was Tony saying, “ _I’m coming, kid_ ,” and a moment later Iron Man was landed firmly outside the doors to the outer deck.

“Get out of the suit!” The second guy yelled, his voice clearly terrified as he held out his gun with both hands.

“You think I’m going to take off my suit right now?” Iron Man scoffed, though he didn’t make any moves to come in yet. “Really? Just because you said so?”

Then, just as Iron Man moved to open the door in his way, the first guy tightened his hold on Peter and thrust the front of his gun against his temple.

“You come in here in that thing and I’ll blow this kid’s brains out!” he threatened, sounding just unhinged enough that Peter thought he was about to it either way.

Iron Man froze then and Peter tried not to imagine his face.

_Breathe. In and out. Breathe._

The second guy spoke up again. “You wanna bargain with us? You can come in and leave your fancy toys outside. Otherwise, we’re gonna start shooting. We’ll start with this idiot kid and go from there, got it? So what’s it gonna be?”

There was a beat of silence before Tony’s suit opened around him and allowed him to step out and come in through the door. Peter knew that suit wasn’t all Tony had. He was always prepared.

“All right, you let him go and we’ll deal with our -” Tony started to say as he walked cautiously toward them, holding his hands out slightly and completely open.

“No way.” The gun was pushed harder into Peter’s skull and he winced, though it was more at the flash of fear in his dad’s eyes. “He’s staying right where he is so you don’t think you can try any funny business. You think we don’t know that suit can be back on in seconds if you feel like it? Nah, we’re keeping this punk for security.”

Tony’s jaw clenched and Peter tore his eyes away from him, looking down at nothing instead. He hated the fear and anger evident on Tony’s face and even more than he hated that it was his fault.

“Then at least get the _gun_ off of his head,” Tony demanded harshly. “I’m not gonna let you hurt my kid.”

“Wait, _your_ kid?” The one not holding onto Peter nearly laughed. “We got _Iron Man’s_ kid right now?”

Peter’s eyes snapped up to Tony’s again. He had adopted a steely expression that was even slightly frightening to Peter.

But apparently holding a gun to his son’s head made these guys pretty confident that he wouldn’t do anything to them.

“You know, maybe we’ll just keep him a little longer,” the man holding Peter suggested, his voice too loud in Peter’s ear. “I feel like we can get more out of this than just a chance to escape from this stupid boat.”

The other man chuckled, giving Tony a cold grin. “Yeah, that’s not a bad idea.”

Peter tried to squirm his head away from the gun but it only resulted in the guy digging it in even more and holding Peter’s head far enough to the side to make his neck sore. He couldn’t help the whimper that escaped his lips, making the man laugh at him.

Tony looked about ready to snap but wasn’t moving yet. Peter thought maybe he was scared to try anything yet. But he’d have to eventually and if he was waiting for the gun to be pointed somewhere else… Peter didn’t think he was going to get a chance.

At least not unless someone else did something first.

None of them really saw it coming when Peter slammed his heel down on the man’s foot behind him, using more strength than he usually allowed himself to. It was a risky move that he knew could’ve ended with a bullet lodging itself in his head. But for once, Peter had a little luck.

The man’s arm flew open as he stumbled back, screaming from the pain of having his foot more than likely broken. Peter stumbled forward and Tony finally moved, surging forward and grabbing Peter’s upper arms. They stared at each other with wide eyes for a moment before Tony shoved Peter to the side. His legs hit the side of one of the benches and he fell to the ground, staring up in shock.

“Stay down!” Tony ordered as one of his gauntlets spread over his outstretched hand and he shot a blast toward to armed men. Everyone scrambled to either get outside or curl on the ground between the benches.

Peter started to get up but Tony saw him and sent him a look that said, “don’t push me right now.”

“Peter, get back!” He shouted, his leg flying forward to kick one of the men in the knee.

As much as he wanted to help, Peter nodded rapidly and moved back to curl up under the window. He couldn’t see most of what was happening and it was killing him but one thing he knew was that Tony wasn’t going to lose.

There were first reasons for that. The first one being that Tony was Iron Man and with or without a whole suit on, he could take a couple goons with pistols. The second reason was that Peter was fairly certain Tony was seeing red and when that happened losing just wasn’t an option for him.

So Peter waited there, trying to decide if he wanted to close his eyes or not. He decided on not but _did_ try and get his breathing under control while he was there.

His temple was throbbing and Peter knew he had a bruise and there was a chance that the skin had broken a little. Either way, it would be gone by at least the end of the day so he wasn’t worried.

Peter wasn’t sure how long it had been when the sounds of fighting stopped but as soon as they had, Tony was there and pulling Peter up to his feet again and into a tight and possibly panicked hug. His fingers were running through Peter’s hair almost frantically, like he needed to convince himself that Peter was there and that was the only way to do it.

The Avengers who had been on the lower deck were there then and rounding the four guys up together, taking them away from the civilians and not saying anything to Tony or Peter even though it seemed like they might have wanted to. Neither of them minded though and were content to just hold onto each other long enough to catch their breath.

They were still holding onto each other when the quinjet came to pick up not only the Avengers but the four men and the scientist, who had agreed to go with them if they’d continue protecting him. There was enough space inside for Tony and Peter to keep to themselves in the corner without being bothered by anyone.

Tony pulled away first, holding either side of Peter’s face instead. His eyes were still burning with anger and a fierce protectiveness.

“I’m ok,” Peter whispered, his voice too shaky to speak normally. “Um… I’m really sorry.”

Tony frowned at that as his thumb moved to dry the tears on Peter’s cheek. “Why are you sorry this time?”

“I screwed up,” Peter choked out and closed his eyes. “I tried to do what I was supposed to and I totally screwed up.”

“No,” Tony said firmly. “You did nothing wrong here, kid. I’m proud of you, ok? Peter, look at me,” he waited until Peter’s eyes were opened again. “I am so proud of how brave you were, ok? You didn’t do anything wrong. You did what I said, which was follow orders. You have nothing to be sorry about, ok?”

Peter nodded but his chin quivered as more tears threatened to appear. He buried his face back into Tony’s chest and made himself breathe slowly rather than in the harsh gasped he felt more inclined to at the moment.

He felt Tony stiffen as someone walked up to stand beside them and lifted his head to see who it was.

Captain America. _Naturally_.

Tony and Peter moved out of their hug but Tony still held one arm around him to keep him safely against his side. His stance turned defensive almost instantaneously but he didn’t say anything. He just stared at Steve and waited for him to be the first to speak.

Steve looked at Tony for a few moments, his expression unreadable. Then his eyes shifted to Peter instead. “I wanted to say… I made a bad call. And I put you in danger. I want you to know that I -”

“No, stop, hang on,” Tony cut him off, looking at him like he was very confusing puzzle that he couldn’t figure out. “I’m just trying to understand why exactly you think you have _any_ right to talk to my kid after that.”

“Tony,” Steve sighed, eyebrows raised. “I’m trying to make this right with -”

“Well, _that’s_ never going to happen,” Tony snapped. “You almost got him killed. You can’t make that right.”

Steve’s eye narrowed slightly, his jaw set. “Why do you always have to make everything into something it’s not, Tony? Just - Look, I was trying to talk to Peter, not you. I think he’s old enough to decide for himself if -”

Tony scoffed at that and shook his head in disbelief. “Really? But he wasn’t old enough to decide if he wanted to be my son? He’s only his own person when it’s convenient for you, is that it? Well, let me tell you something, Rogers, this isn’t about him being old enough or not being old enough. This is about me being his dad and trying to protect him. And it’s about you putting him in danger and almost costing me the life of my kid.”

No one really had a chance to say anything before Tony was lost in a full on rant, his voice getting tenser and louder at her went. At some point, Peter moved to sit down, though he still watched Tony closely and listened to everything he said. He wished Tony wouldn’t yell and it was making his head throb but it was nice to know how deeply Tony cared about his safety.

For the most part, no one else on the quinjet seemed to be able to decide if they wanted to pretend they weren’t listening or just do it openly. But once it got to the point where they suddenly had no idea what he was saying, there wasn’t a single Avenger who wasn’t staring incredulously at him.

Tony didn’t even notice, having gotten so lost in his tangent, now fueled more by his fear and relief as it all caught up to him than his anger at Steve, that he wasn’t really paying enough attention anymore. It wasn’t until he heard Peter’s voice that he stopped talking.

“Tony? What are you saying?” He sounded hesitant; as if he was worried that interrupting him would set Tony right back off or something. He also sounded utterly confused and he looked it too.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Tony was about to ask Peter what he was talking about when it occurred to him. “That wasn’t English.” It was more of a statement to himself than anything…

Vision, who had been brought along on the quinjet but hadn’t ended up really participating in the mission much, spoke up then from where he stood next to Peter. “No, I believe it was Dari Persian. It is the most common -”

“Tony, how long have you been speaking Dari?” Natasha asked him, cutting Vision off in the process. He probably would’ve gone on for a while anyway and no one _really_ wanted to hear it. Natasha had one eyebrow raised and was looking distinctly intrigued.

“Wait, sorry, let me start over in English,” Tony said with such a deadpan expression that no one was sure if he meant it or not. There was of people telling him it was ok and not to bother and he smirked somewhat victoriously, going over to sit by Peter, who still looked baffled. “Don’t worry about it, kid. Sorry I freaked out…”

Peter shook his head. “It’s ok. Kinda weird though… are you going to maybe explain or -”

“Later,” Tony told him through a tight smile, pointedly ignoring the rest of the team as he called Happy and told him to be there to pick he and Peter up at the compound the second they got there.

Since he hadn’t been nearby, Happy ended up arriving a few minutes after they did. They got out without having to talk to anyone though, so Tony decided he didn’t mind.

The only person who stopped them as they left the building was Wanda. A couple of them had looked like they wanted to say something when Tony and Peter passed them but maybe it was Tony’s stiff, brisk pace that turned them off the idea.

Wanda didn’t seem to care though and came up to grab Peter’s hand and pull him into a tight hug. Tony had been about to tell her to give his kid some space but didn’t when he noticed the way Peter seemed to melt into it.

Their hug only lasted a brief moment and then Tony and Peter were out the door and sliding into the car Happy had pulled up directly in front of the entrance.

Peter tried to ask Tony questions about so many things that Tony didn’t bother to try and keep the whole back to the tower. Being completely in the wrong sort of mood to talk, Tony had tried to ask Peter to be quiet before noticing how fast his knee was bouncing and deducing that it was mostly nerves. So instead he just told Peter that he’d listen but couldn’t deal with a conversation at the moment. It worked out for both of them because Peter really only wanted to talk and didn’t mind when neither Tony nor Happy actually paid much attention. He wasn’t saying anything pertinent anyway.

For his part, Tony spent the drive planning how to make things better. He wasn’t going to try and hold Peter back from this crazy superheroing business or everything that came with it. He couldn’t and he knew how sure Peter was that he needed to do it. So he couldn’t and wouldn’t try to stop him. Besides, Spider-Man was good at what he did and Tony wasn’t going to be the one to take him away from anyone. They needed him.

But he couldn’t do much with a bullet in his head and Tony didn’t like how close they’d come to that. The logical solution was to think of a way to make it safer...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, you guys, that's pretty much it as far as Steve being a source of conflict. I fact, if I've remembering correctly, the next time he's really playing a significant role in what's happening it's in a good way. I mean... well, pretty much. Just wait and see. ;D
> 
> Having this part take place on the Staten Island Ferry was kind of an... homage, I guess, to Homecoming. ;D Obviously a super different scene but yeah.
> 
> Oh, and this one was over 8k words so... that's the longest chapter thus far!


	31. Chapter Thirty-One

“No,” Peter said firmly, his jaw set and his eyes glimmering as unwanted tears started to build up. “I’m not going to do that.”

Tony sighed heavily, rubbing a hand tiredly down his face. They’d been sitting at the table with each other in silence long before Tony had even suggested his idea. “Peter, you have to understand why -”

“No, I do,” Peter insisted, leaning forward against the table just slightly. “I get it, really. You think it’ll be safer but I can’t do it. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not asking you to use it on anyone, I’m just -”

“Why learn how to use it and why have one if I’m not going to actually use it?” Peter questioned, his tone agitated and becoming slightly choked as he fought back tears. “I’m not going to learn to shoot a gun and I’m _never_ going to kill someone. You can’t make me do that.”

Tony gave Peter an exasperated glare. “Stop it. Stop trying to make this sound like I’m asking you to go commit murder. I just want you to know how to use a gun so that in a situation where -”

“ _No_ ,” Peter said again, now having to blink furiously to be able to see clearly. The action caused the built up tears to slide down his cheeks and he ignored the urge to wipe them away. “There is no situation where I will ever even point a gun at someone.”

He said it so surely it made Tony’s heart clench. He wished that he could be that sure. But what if something unplanned happened and there was no other choice? He wasn’t going to let his kid be completely helpless to fight back. “What if you wind up with another gun to the head, huh? And you aren’t in your suit and there’s nothing you can do. What then? You really don’t want to at least _know_ how to use a gun? In that situation?”

“I would rather _let_ them shoot me,” Peter nearly shouted, his voice breaking as more tears formed and blurred his vision. “Let them kill me before I will _ever_ be the one killing someone.”

Tony stilled and then tore his gaze away from Peter, staring out the window at the city lights instead. Peter’s emphatic declaration just then had been something Tony couldn’t bear to think about. He knew it was true and that was made it hurt so much. “Fine,” he said quietly after a moment, still not looking back at Peter. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Why don’t go to your room? It’s getting late and you need sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

For a moment, Peter didn’t move at all. He didn’t say anything either. Then he pushed the chair back slowly and stood. In his peripheral vision, Tony could see him rubbing at his eyes with the sleeves of his sweatshirt pulled up over his palms.

Once the teenager had walked far enough away that Tony could no longer see him without turning his head, which he didn’t do, he said one last thing to him. “I love you, kid.”

“Yeah,” came Peter’s breathed response as he left the room for the night.

-

They didn’t talk about it again for two days.

It was obvious that Tony wasn’t planning to just drop it forever. He just had to find the right time to breach the topic again. That was why Peter was out of there as soon as there was a noticeable silence; a window that was a perfect fit for Tony to say something.

He hated to disappoint Tony and was sure that would happen if they tried to talk about again.

Apparently, people had heard that Peter had been involved in a hostage situation on the Staten Island Ferry over the weekend. They knew the Avengers were there but really, no one knew what had happened exactly. Even the people who had been on the ferry didn't know why the men had pulled their guns out or how long the Avengers had been there.

So it wasn’t a surprise when people asked Peter about it at school. He’d even been asked to go and see Mr. Morita, who had wanted to know if they could do anything to help. Mr. Morita’s suggestion had been to talk to counselor if Peter was having trouble dealing with the events on the ferry. Peter assured him that he was really fine but he appreciated it anyway.

Naturally, everyone wanted to know what Peter had even been doing there. Mostly, they seemed to think that Tony had brought him along on an Avengers mission and it hadn’t gone well. And ok, so maybe that was true. But since he was only known as Peter, a regular high school kid, that wasn’t something people should know about.

The story they came up with was that it had been a simple coincidence and Peter had just been lucky that his dad was nearby. The only ones at school who knew otherwise were Ned and Mary Jane.

Peter was in the middle of texting Ned about it - his friend couldn’t seem to run out of questions - after school when the gun subject came up again. Tony had spent the past two days doing almost nothing but baking and that was exactly what he was doing then.

“Hey, kid, I’ve got a question,” he called from the kitchen.

Over on the couch, Peter looked up skeptically from his phone. “Tony, if this is  -”

“Can you just let me ask you a simple question?” Tony rolled his eyes as he set a warm sheet of cookies on the stove. Peter didn’t say anything else so he took that as a cue to keep going. “What if it was someone else? What if there was a gun pointed at someone else?”

“... What do you mean?”

“Well, you made it pretty clear that if a gun was pointed at you, you would just let it happen,” Tony said, holding himself up with his hands on the counter. “But if they were going to shoot someone else? And you were just Peter like on the ferry and couldn’t use your webs against them? Then what?”

Peter narrowed his eyes at Tony and set his phone on the coffee table. “I would try and get the gun away, I guess. Jump in the way if I could. Maybe I’d fail but I’d at least try to stop the situation without _killing_ someone.”

“Why are you so eager to get yourself killed?” Tony demanded.

“I’m not! How often am I even in situations like that anyway?” Peter countered, standing from the couch and grabbing his backpack as he shoved his books back into it.

Tony pointed questioningly at the bag and raised an eyebrow. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah, I’m putting my stuff away. That ok with you?” Peter asked tensely, slinging the backpack over his shoulder but not going anywhere yet. He took a deep breath and made a conscious effort not to let his next words come out as clipped. “I think I need some air. Will it make you mad if I go out for a little while? I’ll try and be back before ten.”

He didn’t tell Tony what he wanted to do but he didn’t have to. Tony understood.

Tony nodded with a small sigh. “Yeah. Sure. Maybe try and stop for some food at some point? You shouldn't skip meals.”

Peter nodded and a mumbled ‘thanks’ and left to his room to put away his school things and get his suit out. He didn’t come back out so Tony figured he’d just left through his bedroom window.

As much as he wished they could’ve just sat and talked about it, Tony had decided to let Peter go. Really, he wasn’t sure why other than that he didn’t have any idea what else to say. Why make Peter sit there feeling miserable if he didn’t even have anything more to say to him?

If nothing else, this gave him some time to think about it some more and try and come up with better arguments. He thought his arguments were pretty solid already but Peter seemed unimpressed.

On second thought, after considering points to make and how Peter might argue them, Tony felt more like going back to baking for a while. He was getting more and more stressed and thinking about it wasn’t making anything better.

He cursed to himself when he caught himself glancing at one of the cupboards that had only held some spare jars of peanut butter since earlier in the summer. It wasn’t that he actually wanted its past content. No, he only wanted something to distract him; something to remove some of the ache in his heart.

It didn’t matter how much he wanted it though. He was done with that part of life and so he spent the rest of the night furiously mixing cookie dough. Maybe he ended up with far more than anyone needed to have at any given time but sitting and waiting while one batch was in the oven wasn’t working for him.

-

Peter had been home for around five hours when he woke up with a panicked gasp.

He’d only been asleep for two hours and had been in his room listening to music and reading another one of Mary Jane’s books before finally getting in bed. He’d already read the five he’d agreed to but he’d ended up liking them so he was letting her toss more at him.

At one point, he’d gone out to see how Tony was doing but had decided not to talk to him when he saw him blending ingredients rather passionately. He still looked sort of upset and Peter wasn’t sure he wanted to brave it.

He might’ve slept through the night if his nightmares hadn’t decided to come back. It was one of the ones that he was sure were really memories he didn’t know he had. That voice was still echoing in his mind when he woke up and tossed aside his covers, shooting upright and pushing his hair back from his now damp forehead.

Peter couldn’t decide if he just wanted to go sit on the couch or if he wanted to find Tony. All he knew was that he didn’t want to be alone in his room. As it turned out, he didn’t really have to make a choice because the second he opened the door… there was his dad.

Tony was fast asleep on the floor, his back against Peter’s doorframe and his head tipped to the side. One of the first things Peter noticed was the sleek pistol clenched in Tony’s hand and resting on the floor beside him.

“Tony?” Peter whispered, slowly kneeling down beside the sleeping man. “Are you… ok?” The was no response and Peter reached a hesitant out to Tony’s shoulder, pulling it back quickly when Tony jolted awake. “Hey! Sorry. I’m sorry. You ok?”

“What…? Pete?” Tony blinked at him and cocked his head as he tried to remember where he was. “Is something wrong?”

“I don’t… know? What are you doing?” Peter sounded worried and couldn’t stop looking back down at the gun between them, still held firmly in Tony’s hand. “Do you - uh, do you need that right now?”

Tony blinked twice. “What?” he asked again before following Peter’s gaze to the weapon in his hand. “Oh. I don’t remember grabbing that.”

“Um, ok… well, can you hand it to me? Please?”

Tony’s eyes snapped up to look at Peter, his eyebrows pinched together. “What? Why?”

 _Breathe_.

“Because you’re scaring me.”

That was enough to get Tony to let go of it. He didn’t hand it to Peter but he didn’t stop the teenager from sliding it away either.

“I’m sorry, kid,” Tony sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. He let his eyes close and he frowned sadly. “I just got scared. Had a bad dream…”

Peter nodded and shifted so that he was sitting closer to Tony and with his legs crossed. “I’m ok though… and if you were worried, you could’ve just come in to wake me up and check. I wouldn’t mind.”

“No, it was fine… I just wanted…”  he trailed off with another sigh, covering his face with his hands. “It helps when I feel like I’m protecting you.”

“You _are_ ,” Peter said reassuringly, his voice almost a whisper.

Tony nodded, moving his hands down again. He didn’t look very convinced. “I just - Peter, I can’t always be there,” he turned his head to look Peter in the eye. “And I’m worried because I don’t feel like you’re prepared for all the situations I want you to be.”

Peter’s face fell, his worried expression turning to one that was just _done_. “Are we really going to do this again?”

“Kid, I just want to feel like you’re safe if I have to leave you alone and you can’t be Spider-Man. I hadn’t really thought about it before but now - Peter, I thought I was going to lose you,” he said earnestly, his voice breaking at the end. “I really thought it was over. And now you’re telling me that you would just _let_ yourself die and I - what would I do then? What would I do without you?”

“Tony -”

“No, just listen,” he begged, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Peter, if you died I don’t think I’d be able to keep going. I honestly think I’d just -” His voice broke again, cutting him off. “I’d die too, kid.”

Peter’s eyes widened.

_Breathe._

“Ok.”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “‘Ok’? To what?”

Peter bit his bottom lip and took a shaky breath, shrugging one shoulder. “I’ll learn… if you really think it would make you feel better. I don’t want to scare you.”

Tony sat up a little, his eyebrows furrowing deeper. “Peter… really? You’re not going to tell me at breakfast that you changed your mind? You’ll really agree to this?”

“Yeah,” Peter said, swallowing hard. “Yeah, but just - I’m just agreeing to _learn_ , ok? I’m not agreeing to ever… ever actually…”

“That’s ok,” Tony assured him, his expression relaxing as something like relief washed over him. “I can work with that.”

Out of words, Peter just nodded before he was wrapped in a relieved and grateful embrace, fingers threading through his hair the way he’d come to expect when his dad pulled him in for a hug.

Ok, so he still didn’t really want to do it… but he wanted Tony to feel better and apparently this would help. After everything Tony had done for Peter, he didn’t think it made much since to refuse to cooperate on this. Besides… he was Spider-Man. He’d figure it out.

-

“Wait, but I thought you said before that you didn’t want to do learn how to use a gun?” Ned looked at Peter incredulously. The two boys and Mary Jane were sitting in their favorite booth at their usual pizza place after school the next day and Peter was explaining the most recent turn in events.

Peter shrugged and took a drawn out sip of his soda. “Yeah. I know. And I still don’t… not really. But I also do.” He hadn’t explained what exactly had made him change his mind. He hadn’t asked, but it didn’t seem like something Tony would want him telling people about. So the conversation that had taken place on the floor in front of Peter’s room stayed between the two of them. And FRIDAY, of course.

“Dude, I know you’re nervous about it,” Ned began. “But if you got really good with guns, I bet Spider-Man could be pretty awesome with a couple of them, you know? Like, imagine flipping through the air over a bad guy’s head and just -”

“ _Ned_ ,” Peter hissed. “Stop. No, that would not be cool. Because I don’t _want_ to shoot bad guys, remember? And keep your voice down, please.”

Mary Jane rolled her eyes and looked at Peter consideringly, moving the tip of her straw around in his mouth absently.

Peter squinted at her and frowned. “What?”

“Well…” Mary Jane frowned too, taking the straw from her mouth. “Look, I know he’s your dad now and I know he has good reasons and stuff but, Peter, if you don’t want to do something that goes against who you want to be then you shouldn’t let him pressure you into it.”

“He’s not pressuring me into anything,” Peter said flatly, narrowing his eyes slightly. “He’s just looking out for me.”

“No, I know,” Mary Jane told him with a little nod. “I’m just saying... I don’t want you to feel like you have you have to do anything you’re not comfortable with just because he adopted you, you know?”

Peter breathed a disbelieving laugh. “I don’t feel like that. I agreed because I wanted to, I promise. It just… it’s still kinda scary, that’s all.”

She nodded again, this time with a brief and understanding smile. “Ok. Then I won’t say anything else about it. I’m just trying to look out for my friend, you know?”

Peter was about to say something else when he got a text. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to read it.

**Hey, I’m on my way and should be there in five minutes.**

“It’s from Harry,” Peter told his friends, looking up from his phone and setting it screen down on the table. “He said he’s on his way.”

He almost thought he’d imagined it since it was so brief and frankly unbelievable but no, he’d seen it. Mary Jane had _smiled_ at the mention of their newest friend.

“What was that?” Peter asking, practically gawking at her.

“Hmm?” She bent down to drink some soda and looked up innocently at Peter. “What are you talking about?”

“ _You_. I thought you didn’t like Harry.”

Ned nodded, looking at her suspiciously. “Yeah, that’s true. You used to hate him, like, last week.”

“First of all, I never _hated_ Harry,” she argued with one raised eyebrow. “Second of all, I didn’t do anything. And third of all, yeah, ok, so I’m happy he’s going to make it. He’s a pretty cool guy once you get to know him.”

Peter had to fight the muscles in his face not the frown at that. He didn’t know why it bugged him so much that they were getting along. He wanted Harry to have friends and there was nothing wrong with Mary Jane making more friends either. Logically, there was no problem to speak of. So why did he want to drop his face onto the table?

“So, I guess we need to change the subject if Harry’s coming, huh?” Ned asked almost sadly. He rested the side of his face in a hand and propped his elbow up on the table. “Do you think you’re ever going to tell him? You know, about… _you know_.”

Peter laughed and choked on his soda. After mopping up the mess he made on the table with napkins, he grinned at his friend. “Really, Ned? Really?”

“What?” Ned asked, frowning in confusion.

“He’s not going to tell Harry, Ned,” Mary Jane said dryly. “He didn’t even want to tell us.”

“Well, that’s true,” Peter agreed with a nod. “But also, why would I tell him? His dad is involved in all of that. I’m not bringing him into it.”

Ned shrugged and nodded concedingly. “Ok. I still don’t know why that made you made you laugh though. It’s not that funny.”

“No, I was laughing at your idea of changing the subject,” Peter told him, grinning again. “You just went right back to it!”

“Oh, sorry,” Ned said, smiling even though he turned a little red. “I was just kinda wondering about it.”

“It’s ok,” Peter said as he turned his phone back over to look at the time. “We should actually change the subject though because Harry should be here any minute now. Hey, what are you guys going to do for that powerpoint assignment in biology?”

Harry chose that exact moment to walk up to their table, sliding into the booth right beside Mary Jane. “Hey, guys! Did I hear you talking about the powerpoint in biology? Pete, you’re doing mine for me, right?”

“Uh, _no_ ,” Peter told him, his face scrunching up in complete disapproval. Though there may have been a couple reasons for that. “You can’t get through by cheating, Harry. Besides, I have to do my own assignment and wouldn’t have time to yours too anyway. And don’t call me ‘Pete’.”

“Sorry,” Harry said, smiling jovially. “I don’t really want you to do my school. Though I wouldn’t complain if you offered,” he added with a playful wink at Mary Jane. “And haven’t you been working on yours since summer anyway?”

“No,” Peter sighed, confused at his own annoyance. There was really no reason to be the way he was… “I study ahead. I can’t do assignments ahead because I don’t know what they are. The teachers will tell me what I can read ahead if I want to and sometimes they let me do extra credit work while school is out but they can’t tell me all the assignments beforehand. That would put me at an unfair advantage. And they’re more than willing to tell anyone who wants to know what we’re studying next. It’s not my fault that no one else cares.”

Harry chuckled and leaned back, stretching his arm out to lay against the top of the back of the booth. If Mary Jane hadn’t been leaning her folded arms on the table his arm would’ve been across her shoulders. “Well, don’t you already have an unfair advantage just by being so much smarter than everyone?”

Peter felt himself starting to glare and had to consciously tell himself to stop. “It’s not unfair. I can’t help it if I like to learn and work hard on my assignments and no one else does.”

“‘Work hard’,” Mary Jane repeated with a smirk. “You breeze through it all and you know it. You don’t have to work hard.”

“Ok, _regardless_ , I don’t have an unfair advantage! It’s just the way I am!”

Ned nudged Peter’s arm and smiled softly. “Hey, man, relax a little bit, ok? No one’s attacking you.”

“Sorry,” Peter groaned, feeling his cheeks heat up. He hadn’t meant to get so irritated.

“Gee, he’s wound up pretty tight today, huh?” Harry asked Mary Jane specifically, turning in the booth to face her.

Mary Jane looked back at him with a calculating smirk. “Yeah, it sure seems like it.”

“Oh, wait a second,” Harry said suddenly, smiling slowly and raising his eyebrows. “You did something different with your hair, didn’t you?”

Peter pinched eyebrows together and frowned when Mary Jane smiled back. It wasn’t his favorite smile with the scrunched up nose… but still.

“Yeah, actually,” she answered him, resting her chin on her fist as she looked at Harry, still smiling. “I put purple in it last year but it was fading so I did it again. I didn’t expect _you_ to notice.”

And then - _then_ \- she didn’t do anything when Harry moved his hand to her messy ponytail and twirled a strand of purple around his finger with that awful smile that had all the girls at school obsessed with him.

Peter huffed and stood up from the table, grabbing his cup. “I’m getting a refill,” he muttered to no one in particular as he left his friends and went to the other side of the restaurant to get a new kind of soda. He ended up dumping it out and changing his mind five times before he went back to sit down again.

The rest of the time they were there, which was far too long in his opinion, Peter hardly said another word to his friends. He mostly sighed and offered short affirmatives and negatives where they seemed necessary.

None of the three of them seemed to mind, though Ned gave Peter a lot of sympathetic smiles while Harry casually told Mary Jane all about the car he’d gotten for his sixteenth birthday. The worst part was that Mary Jane was actually listening.

The thing about Mary Jane was that she was _always_ listening. It would be stupid to try and have a conversation near her and be surprised to find out she’d heard everything even with her face in a book the whole time. And she usually had her face in a book. In fact, you could be talking directly to her and it wouldn’t really be a surprise if she just pulled a book out of her bag and starting. But she would still get every bit of what you were saying.

It wasn’t that Peter was surprised that she was listening to Harry. But she hadn’t looked at a book once since he’d gotten there and actually maintained eye contact with him the _entire time_. And she seemed to be all smiles too! Maybe not by most people’s standards but for her? It was a lot of smiling.

So by the time they finally left, Peter was really ready to go home and eat ice cream with Tony.

Ned said his goodbyes and walked off in the direction of home almost as soon as they stepped outside and saw how late it had gotten. He’d been expected home at least an hour earlier so hurrying was best.

Then Harry said he’d be right back with his car and went to get it from wherever he’d parked it. Peter figured he wanted to show it off after talking about it for at least a four hour of the time they’d been inside.

Now that he was gone, it left Peter and Mary Jane alone on the sidewalk.

“You know, you were right,” Mary Jane suddenly, not actually looking at Peter. They were standing shoulder to shoulder at the edge of the sidewalk, just watching as the cars drove by. Though Peter turned his head to look at her, Mary Jane kept her gaze straight ahead. “Harry’s not bad. I think he’s lonely. He needed friends. It was nice of you, helping him meet people at school.”

“He didn’t need any help with that,” Peter scoffed. “People just see him and want to be his friend. And that’s _before_ they realize he’s rich.”

Mary Jane shrugged. “Still. It was nice of you.”

Peter was about to say something, though he didn’t even know what, when Harry’s spotless car came to a smooth stop in front of them. The top was down so Harry didn’t have to get out or open any windows to turn and talk to them, one hand on the wheel and the other against the side of the passenger seat.

“Well, here she is,” he said with a proud grin. “Isn’t she great, Pete? Sorry - _Peter_.”

Peter nodded simply. “Yeah,” he agreed quietly, realizing only a second later that he hadn’t been thinking about the car.

Harry grinned again and looked at Mary Jane. “Well, you’ll have to give me directions because I have no idea where you live.”

“What?” Peter furrowed his eyebrows and looked Mary Jane questioningly.

“It’s getting dark and I’m a girl walking home in the city,” Mary Jane told him with a shrug. “I’ll take a ride from a friend if it’s offered. You can’t be too careful.”

“Yeah, but…” Peter frowned. “I mean, I could walk you home if you wanted to… walk?”

Mary Jane laughed softly as she opened the car door and climbed in. “My place is in the opposite direction of yours now, Tiger. See you at school tomorrow.”

And then they were gone, leaving Peter by himself on the curb.

-

“Uh oh,” Tony said as soon as Peter walked in the door. “What’s the situation?”

“There’s no situation,” Peter mumbled as he kicked off his shoes. “Can we have ice cream?”

Tony raised a skeptical eyebrow at him but pushed off the part of the counter he’d been leaning on and went to the freezer. “Yes, we can. But only when you tell me the problem.”

Peter sighed heavily and came over to the kitchen as well. “I just didn’t have the greatest time. Harry’s being annoying.”

“Oh, yeah? What’d he do?”

“I just…” There was another sigh. “I think he likes MJ. He was, like, _flirting_ with her all evening. And he’s got this nice car that his dad bought for his birthday -” he noticed the way Tony stiffened at the mention of Osborn but he kept talking anyway, not wanting to get into _that_ topic again. “So he gave her a ride home and she _let_ him.”

Tony nodded knowingly and pulled a couple tubs of ice cream out of the freeze. “Oh, I get it. So your shady friend is stealing your girl and you’re getting a little steamed about it, that right?”

“No,” Peter said as his cheeks started to darken. “It’s just… he’s just annoying me right now. And I don’t think she should be getting rides from him. It’s just that she’s my friend and I worry about all my friends.” He reached out a hand and just let Tony pick whatever flavor to hand to him.

“Well, I thought Harry was your friend too,” Tony smirked, popping the lid off his own ice cream. “So what’s the problem? Remember how I think he’s dangerous and you think he’s not? It kinda sounds like you _maybe_ don’t think I’m so wrong right now…”

Peter glared at him and shaved a large spoonful of his ice in his mouth, talking around it. “I don’t think he’s dangerous. I just don’t think we know him very well and it’s not very smart to get in a car alone with someone who you don’t know that well. That’s all.”

“Right,” was all Tony said.

“And it’s just weird because… well, she didn’t mind that the was flirting with her. Like, at _all_. She actually seemed like she liked it.”

“Why does that bother you? It’s not like _you_ like her,” Tony reminded him with a smirk, which only grew as he saw the blush rising even higher.

With a frustrated huff, Peter decided to change the subject back again. “Look, I’m just kinda worried about her driving places with him. But I’ve known Mary Jane since we were pretty young. So I’m just thinking… what if we keep trying with the whole driving lesson thing? And then I could get my own car and _I_ could drive her home instead of Harry.”

Tony raised his eyebrows and Peter and set down his ice cream. “Oh really? _That’s_ your solution? Peter, do you remember the last driving lesson? Because _no_.”

“Ok, but I’m sixteen now so I’m old enough and you said that you’d teach me. And I really need to learn now,” Peter argued, temporarily forgetting about his ice cream. “I just - Dad, I really don’t like Harry flirting with her.”

“Right,” Tony nodded, unfazed. “Because you’re worried he’s gonna come swooping by in his fancy car and steal her before you get a chance.”

“ _Dad_ ,” Peter moaned. “I’m only… look, you weren’t there, ok? He, like, put his arm around her! Like, that stupid yawn move they only do in movies and she didn’t even care! And then he was touching her hair and, like, noticing that she’d gotten the purple bit redyed and _I_ noticed too but I didn’t say anything because I’m _stupid_ ! And she was smiling and laughing and she never smiles that much when she talks with me and I just sat there like an idiot and then she went off in _Harry’s_ car and I walked home alone like a dork who can’t drive yet because I can’t. And I just think maybe if I had a car too she wouldn’t think he’s so darn _special_ ! And ok, maybe I’m being stupid but I can’t help it, Dad! I just - I - Dad, I really like her, ok? I do.. And I know it’s stupid but I can’t help it and she’s - she’s just… _Mary Jane_ and that’s probably the greatest thing any girl could ever be but I’m an idiot and she thinks I’m a loser. And _Harry_ \- Harry could date any girl at the whole school or - or someone who’s not at Midtown. They all adore him and he could pick anyone he wanted so _why_ did he have to pick the girl _I_ like?”

At some point, he’d gotten down from the stool he’d been sitting on at the counter and had started pacing back and forth in the kitchen. He hadn’t really noticed it until the end of his rant and that was because he kicked the wooden side of the counter without even meaning to. Just - there went his foot. And… there went the wood.

“I broke the counter…” Peter stated quietly, completely stunned as he stared at the hole his foot had made. His foot was aching but only slightly. He knew the pain would be gone in only a moment unless he’d broken something, which he doubted… Well, except for the side of the counter, anyway.

Tony stood and came over to see it, humming thoughtfully as he stared at it. “Well, you, uh… you really got it, huh?”

“Sorry,” Peter breathed shakily, his chest heaving as the anger that had been building up seemed to fizzle out. “I - um, I can try to fix it if you want.”

“Do you have any idea how to fix that?”

Peter nodded to the side, still staring down at the hole. “Um, I guess not… but I can still try.”

Tony chuckled and put an arm around Peter, pulling him to his side. “Don’t worry about it, kid. I’ll get someone in here to patch it up tomorrow. I figure this is the kind of collateral damage that comes with adopted superhuman teenagers with a lot of emotions, right?”

“Sure,” Peter sighed, rubbing his face tiredly. “Sorry I got mad.”

“Don’t be. You’re ok,” Tony assured him and started to steer him back towards the stool. “Let’s go back to eating ice cream and you can keep telling me about all this, ok? Maybe just… we’ll work on being a little calmer this time around, how’s that?”

Peter nodded and stabbed at his ice cream halfheartedly. “I really like her, Dad…”

“Yeah, I know,” Tony replied with a teasing smirk.

Peter’s blush came back immediately. “Well… I didn’t. I think I’ve just been trying to not let it be true because… Because what if something like _this_ happened?”

Tony chuckled knowingly and watched Peter’s spoon dig in his ice cream. “Yeah… I get that, kiddo. I do. This stuff can be hard… But now that you’ve accepted your feelings for her, can I just say one thing? I told you so.” He grinned and nudged Peter’s shoulder with his own, earning a shy grin and flaming cheeks.

“Yeah, ok,” Peter muttered, finally eating some ice cream rather than just attacking it forlornly. “But _will_ you teach me to drive?”

“I hate to disappoint you but I really don’t think that’ll magically fix everything,” Tony told Peter almost secretively. “You might want to take a different approach on this one.”

Peter shook his head certainly. “No, I thought about this the whole way back home. The first thing I need to worry about it is learning to drive. Then I have to convince her to let _me_ drive her home instead of Harry but I just don’t know yet how I’ll do that part… but then from there… I mean, then we’ll be alone together while I drive her and maybe we can talk more, you know? And - and maybe she’ll stop thinking I’m a loser and-”

“She doesn’t think that,” Tony interrupted him, reaching over to ruffle his hair. “And she doesn’t like Harry so don’t worry about that, ok?”

Peter looked over at him suspiciously. “I don’t know why you think you can know that… but, Tony, can you please just teach me anyway? I mean, if I have to learn to shoot a gun, I’d really like to learn to drive too.”

Tony sighed and stared at Peter consideringly for a moment. Peter just started back. “Oh my word, put the eyes away, kid,” Tony said, sighing again but giving Peter a smirk as well. “Fine, ok. I’ll give you another driving lesson and if you crash it… no more after that, deal?”

“I mean, if you think about it, driving could help protect me. Like, what if I need to make a fast getaway and I don’t have my webs, right? If I could drive, that would sure make it a lot easier,” Peter reasoned solemnly.

“I said yes already. Geez, kid,” Tony stopped him with a playful glare. “No reason to keep trying to sell me on it.”

Peter grinned and leaned over to hug Tony. “Thank you! You’re the best!”

“Yeah, ok,” Tony laughed, ruffling Peter’s hair again. “Just eat your ice cream.”

Peter pulled his legs up to sit cross legged on the stool and picked up his ice cream again. “Ok, so when are we going to start then?”

“I’ll give you another lesson after you’ve starting learning how to shoot, deal?” Tony offered with one raised eyebrow.

“Sure,” Peter sighed and smiled agreeably. “How are we doing that, by the way?”

Tony shrugged and got up to throw away his empty ice cream tub. “I was thinking we’d do it at the compound. There’s a shooting range and there are people there who know how to handle a gun better than I do. I know how to shoot but I’d rather you learn from someone a little more experienced.”

“Can Bucky do it?” Peter asked automatically. “He knows how to shoot and I’m comfortable around him.”

Tony pinched his eyebrows but nodded. “Sure. I guess so, if he’s willing to teach you. You know he’s not my favorite person but you’re right… he knows how to shoot and for whatever reason you like the guy so… sure. We’ll go over there in the next couple days and see if he wants to help you out, ok?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this week, I am recommending the series, Lights To Guide You Home by JolinarJackson. It's three parts, currently, though there be more later on. At this point, there are two one-shots and then a ten part story. It's non-linear, which I absolutely adore when done well and, let me tell you... this is done well!


	32. Chapter Thirty-Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to it being Thanksgiving week, this may need to be another one chapter week. I say "may" because I'm not sure how busy I'll be. I might be able to update the story on my usual schedule, it might be slightly different this week, or this might be the only chapter you get until next Monday. Very sorry and I hope you understand!

When they’d asked him, Bucky had simply nodded and said, “ok.”

There was no hesitation in his answer, though he did take a moment before saying anything and Peter wondered what he was thinking.

After that, they let Bucky lead them off to the shooting range and Tony kept a strong hand on Peter’s back the whole time. It wasn’t that Peter wanted to turn around but he was still nervous and they’d found that he was having some trouble getting his legs to move without a little help.

The shooting range was one of the many rooms Peter had never been in. Once they got through the door he wished it could’ve stayed that way forever.

Everything about it was unfamiliar and threatening. It was all various shades of gray and there was nothing about it that seemed anything other than cold and hard. Both literally and otherwise.

The lighting made him uncomfortable due to its contradictory nature. It was bright enough that he could see everything just fine but somehow the room still felt... _dark_ and so, so gloomy.

There was no one else there and the room was too silent. It made it so that every step the three of them took and every brush of fabric on fabric as they moved was just too loud in his ears. He resisted the urge to block it out with his hands.

But the smell was the worst part. Peter had never thought about guns having a smell but this was it. And he didn’t like it one bit.

“Hey, Peter?” Tony said suddenly, his tone light and conversational and he placed his hands on peter’s shoulders and turned him so that they were facing each other. “Breathe, ok? We’re not even doing anything yet.”

Peter nodded and tried his best. It was another one of those moments where he hadn’t noticed that his breathing was getting weird.

The two of them stood back against the wall and worked on Peter’s breathing while Bucky went to the gun racks and worked on picking out the best one to use.

“I think this’ll be good,” Bucky said suddenly, seemingly weighing the gun he’d chosen in his hand. He kept talking as he turned around. “I’ve never taught anyone and guns were different when I learned but I’m pretty sure this one… what’s wrong?” He asked with furrowed eyebrows when he noticed Tony still trying to steady Peter’s breaths.

“Peter’s just a little…” Tony trailed off, considering his wording his a thoughtful frown, one hand still on Peter’s shoulder as he faced Bucky. “He’s sort of uncomfortable in here. We’re working on it.”

“Oh,” Bucky said, sounding a little surprised. He blinked a couple times and then nodded. “Ok, wait outside the door. Just give me second.”

Tony looked confused but ushered Peter back out anyway.

Bucky was only inside for another couple minutes before coming out with a plastic bin he’d filled with shooting equipment. He gestured wordlessly for them to follow him so they did, exchanging baffled looks on the way.

He didn’t say anything until they were outside and he had set down his bin. Then he started taking things out and setting them on a strangely nice picnic table. Peter didn’t think anyone actually used it. It was too clean and unblemished for that. Bucky didn’t care though and dumped everything on top of it unceremoniously.

“Can one of you set up the target over by that tree?” Bucky asked while he sorted through everything he’d gotten. Peter sort of thought he’d taken more than he needed to. “I don’t see any reason why we can’t just do it outside. The range is sort of stuffy anyway. You can breathe more outside.”

Peter nodded mutely and came over to look at what Bucky was doing while Tony dug through the bin and took what he needed to get the target set up.

“Why do we need so much?”

Bucky glanced at him briefly. “Well, that depends on what exactly you’re looking at. Some of this is for safety and I brought a few things just to show how things work and the differences in kinds of guns and ammunition and all that. I don’t know how much your dad was hoping for you to learn today.”

Peter smiled warmly at that. It wasn’t often that people referred to Tony that way and especially not around the compound. Even Happy still referred to him just as ‘Tony’ to Peter. It was nice to hear someone other than he and Tony say it…

“I know you like to know how everything works,” Bucky began. “So I thought maybe we could just start with that. Tony can help you with that part more than I can though. He’s got more experience with that side of it than I do.”

“Yeah,” Peter said with a slight frown. They didn’t really talk about Tony’s past much and rarely in much detail but it wasn’t a secret that Tony knew more about that side of weaponry than most people did. “But how does that help me shoot it though?”

“Look,” Bucky chuckled. “I’m not going to make you learn about all the little details going on inside the gun. I don’t know. Just thought you might like it, being a little science kid and all that, you know?”

Peter nodded consideringly. “Yeah… I’m just not sure if that would make me calm down or overthink the whole thing even more.”

Bucky hummed thoughtfully but didn’t say anything else. He kept picking through everything, sometimes holding things like earmuffs out in front of Peter to try and decide which ones were best.

“Ok,” he said finally, handing Peter everything he’d decided he needed. “Want to get started?”

Peter froze and then Tony was next to him, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze. He took a deep breath and nodded. Ultimately, he figured it would be best to just get going with it. Sitting there and worrying about it any longer wasn’t doing anyone any favors.

They decided to just go straight into showing Peter how to use the gun but the offer still stood for him to take one apart with Tony and become a little more familiar with the inner workings of it. Peter wasn’t so sure he wanted to do that since it would mean even more time.

“We’re going to start with blanks,” Bucky explained, picking up the gun he’d picking a little ways from the table, making sure he was lined up with the target. Then he waved Peter over though he waited patiently when the teenager hesitated.

Tony offered a reassuring nod and smile as he took a seat in one of the chairs that went with the table. “Take your time. Just breathe until you’re ready, ok?”

Peter inhaled slowly and nodded again, clenching and unclenching his fists. “How long do we have to do this?”

“That depends,” Tony answered gently with a shrug. “We’ll go as long as you’re comfortable with but I’m going to keep bringing you back here to work on this until Barnes says you know what you’re doing. So if you just want to spend ten minutes every week that’s fine but it’ll go a lot longer.”

“Ok,” Peter sighed and turned toward Bucky. “Ok. What do I do?”

Bucky Barnes may not have been the first person Tony would’ve thought to ask. Really, he wouldn’t be the first person he ask any kind of help from. But certainly not when it came to his kid and something that was bound to be a difficult and emotional experience.

Now that he was watching him teach Peter though. He was glad it had been him. Tony wasn’t sure why exactly it was but Bucky made Peter feel comfortable - or at least more than he might’ve been with someone else. He was surprisingly gentle and patient and it didn’t seem to faze him either of the two times Peter needed Tony to come over and hold him while he got himself to breathe again.

The first time was when Bucky handed Peter the gun. He’d held back out to him almost immediately and Tony had noticed the shortness of breath right away. After that, he was able to let Bucky show him how to hold it and what to do and there were a couple times when Tony wondered if he should get back up… Peter kept pushing.

The second time was when Peter pulled the trigger. Tony thought the kid might’ve fallen over if he hadn’t been right there to grab him. Of course Peter had gone straight into a stream of unnecessary apologies while he tried not to cry.

And the whole time, Bucky never seemed to care. Well, it wasn’t that he didn’t _care_. He just didn’t mind. He was perfectly to just help and not ask questions. There was nothing he needed to know other than that Peter was scared and uncomfortable and Bucky was ready to help.

After Peter had calmed down, Bucky had asked if he could try to shot one more blank before they called it a day. His reasoning was that the second time shouldn’t be as scary because he already had an idea of what it would feel like to pull the trigger. Ending it on such an upsetting note didn’t strike Bucky as a good idea. Tony was inclined to agree.

So Peter shoot the gun one more time and was relatively ok after that. He offered to help put everything away but Bucky had told them it wasn’t necessary and they could go whenever they were ready.

There was just enough time to stop for ice cream on the way back into the city.

-

“... Tony? You ok out there?”

“ _Shut up_ ,” Tony groaned in response.

Peter was waiting in the car, tapping the steering wheel with his thumbs and chewing guiltily on his lower lip. According to Tony, Peter’s driving had gotten worse.

And Tony? Tony was hunched over a trashcan in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant and currently emptying his stomach of the muffins they’d had for breakfast.

They had started out slow. Tony had read some helpful guides to teaching a teen to drive online and had decided that for the next lesson they should just stick to circling parking lots. And that really hadn’t been too bad.

This was actually his third lesson. The second lesson had gone so smoothly that Tony had been willing to go for round three the next day. And when the parking lot circles weren’t causing any problems, Tony was the one who suggested they try something a little harder.

It was for that reason that Peter felt this wasn’t entirely his fault.

But it didn’t really matter whose fault it was because Tony was miserable and anything but happy with Peter either way.

“Ok, well… are you going to be ok _soon_?” Peter questioned, craning his neck to try and get a better view and see if Tony was heaving less. He was.

“Peter, I just saw my life flash before my eyes - _repeatedly_. I think I’ve earned a little bit of a breather,” Tony snapped. “You can just exercise a little patience over there!”

“Ok,” Peter laughed, though not as obviously as he could have.

“You are treading on extremely thin ice right now, kid,” Tony said warningly, wagging a finger in the air.

That just made Peter laugh more as he pressed a fist over his mouth and slid down in the seat to hide. He heard Tony sigh in utter frustration and that only made it worse, really.

Once he could stand up straight, Tony came around and flung open to the door on the driver’s side of the car. “Ok, kid,” he said rather decidedly. “Get on outta there.”

Peter rolled his eyes with a grin, unbuckling his seatbelt without actually getting out yet or making any moves to. “Come on. Are you really in good enough condition to drive us home? Because I’m honestly a little concerned about your -”

“Peter,” Tony interrupted flatly. “Get out of the car.”

“Sure,” Peter replied with another grin as he climbed out and hurried around to get in the other side. As funny as he genuinely thought this whole thing was, he wouldn’t be that surprised if Tony decided to drive off without him so he had to get in as quickly as possible. Just in case…

“What I don’t understand, Peter,” Tony started almost conversationally as he pulled the car out of its parking place. “Is how you managed to hit to so many cardboard boxes and just - just _barely_ miss every tree we passed.”

“‘ _Every_ tree’?” Peter snorted and shook his head. “You are _so_ exaggerating right now. It was, like, _two_. Two tiny trees. Which I didn’t hit, so…”

Tony made an unconvinced sort of grunt. “That’s two too many though, Pete. Yeah, no more driving lessons at least until the end of the week.”

Peter held back another laugh but nodded agreeably. “Yeah, yeah, ok.”

-

The second shooting lesson with Bucky had gone pretty smoothly. Since Peter knew what to expect already he wasn’t so nervous about it, even if he still didn’t like it. Bucky still only had him shoot blanks but the spend half the time disassembling and reassembling a gun and not actually shooting anything.

It had been just over a week since the first lesson and though Tony wanted to do it more frequently they’d only gotten one more session in. No driving lessons yet but Peter knew better than to push it.

School had been about the same though Flash had ceased his sensory torture - as Peter had dubbed it - almost entirely. He had shifted gears apparently and gone back to the calculating glares.

Peter wasn’t wasting any energy trying to figure him out through.

Mary Jane had accepted a ride home with Harry at least three more times since the first time and Ned and Tony had both made themselves available for Peter to rant to. He really didn’t understand why she was doing this because it didn’t seem like anything he would’ve expected from her before. Never would Peter have thought he’d see Mary Jane laughing with a popular rich kid in his convertible while they drove off into the sunset or whatever. It made no sense.

Harry was doing pretty well at Midtown. The teachers didn’t seem to hate him yet, which he assured his friends would happen sooner or later, and all the other students thought he was great. Even with the rides he offered to Mary Jane at every opportunity - she didn’t always accept, which Peter wasn’t exactly offended by - Harry still flirted with just about everyone. Honestly, Peter would probably find it annoying if it didn’t mean he had _less_ time to flirt with Mary Jane.

One of the highlights of the past week of school had been having Ned over for movies and Legos two nights in a row. He’d been a little worried about if he had a nightmare or something while Ned was there since he hadn’t really had sleepovers with him since that had started to become a real issue but it hadn’t happened.

He had a pretty bad nightmare the night after Ned went home and he was ridiculously grateful it had been then instead of one of the two nights before.

Tony and Peter had been spotted out and about a few more times so there were more pictures floating around online. They were still keeping pretty quiet about it so people continued to make up their own answers and fill in everything they didn’t know, which was a lot.

To Peter, that was the current worst thing. He still couldn’t stop looking at it and some of it made him angry. Most people were convinced that Peter had been the result of a drunken night in Tony’s past.

“You know why they think that though, right?” Tony had said when Peter brought it up. “I mean, it’s not that farfetched. Obviously they’re wrong but I’m not so surprised that they’re thinking that way.”

“Yeah, but you’ve changed so much,” Peter argued irritably. “So it’s not fair to keep throwing that back at you!”

“Peter, it doesn’t matter if I’ve changed now. It wouldn’t erase the aftermath of something like that so it wouldn’t make it impossible for me to have a kid. What I _don’t_ appreciate is the insinuation that I got _stuck_ with you,” Tony had finally snapped after trying to maintain some level of composure. “I’m not stuck. Don’t listen to that stuff, ok?”

That was what really gotten Peter, honestly. He didn’t care much about they said about him. He just didn’t like what they were saying about Tony. But he supposed that was exactly how Tony was feeling about it. He just wanted to protect Peter.

It had already been a month since Tony had adopted Peter and so much had changed in that time. Peter’s life was pretty much nothing like it had been before his name had changed and that was becoming more and more ok. He had moments where he wished he could just be as invisible as he’d been before; that he could tell his past self that being invisible isn’t so bad.

It was the hardest when Peter thought about the fact that it was only going to get worse. And even if it didn’t get too much worse, which he doubted, it certainly wasn’t going to better. At least not if you considered getting better to be going back to the way it was before. He hoped he would keep getting more comfortable with all the changes and that _that_ would make it better in some ways.

But really, even when he had those moments, Peter didn’t mind it that much. The rapidly increasing loss of privacy seemed like a small price to pay.

The fact that it had been a month was strange to both Peter and Tony. On the one hand, they couldn’t believe it had been so long. On the other, being a family just felt right and it was hard to fathom it only having been one month. But everyone seemed insistent on reminding them that it had been exactly one month.

There really wasn’t much that had been said but one of the only things the media and public knew for certain was the exact day that Tony had adopted Peter because it had been something he felt like sharing. So a lot of people were talking about it. Unfortunately, a fresh wave of made up stories came with that so Tony had officially made it a “no internet day”.

Rather than just sit and watch tv like they usually did, they spent all their free time that day in the workshop. Overall, it really wasn’t a bad day. In fact, it was a pretty great one and Peter wished it hadn’t ended.

He wasn’t even halfway through school the next day when he had to sneak off and hide in an empty classroom with his phone.

“Tony, what would you do if I punched someone in the face?” Was the the first thing he asked when Tony answered the call.

He heard a sigh before Tony gave a response. “ _Someone at school? Because I certainly hope that’s where you are right now._ ”

“Yeah. Yeah, someone at school.”

“ _Who did you punch? Was it Harry? Because I can’t say I’d mind that much._ ”

Peter breathed a short laugh and ran a hand through his hair. “No. No, it’s not Harry and I didn’t punch anyone. Yet, anyway. I’m just considering it.”

There was only silence, which Peter took as an unspoken “why?”

“This kid stopped me in the hall and asked if - if my mom was… well. You know.”

“ _What? A floozy?_ ”

“Well,” Peter snorted. “That wasn’t the word he used. But yeah. I - I guess he read some stupid article yesterday. Said you - you know, met her a party or casino or something and got drunk and - and you weren’t… careful. So, uh, I was a mistake and you got… stuck. He said if you’d had a choice I would be somewhere else.”

“ _Peter_ ,” Tony sighed softly. “ _You know that isn’t true. Obviously you know that. And you know I chose you, ok? We talked about this. Don’t listen to that stuff. You know the truth, which is that I wanted you and that’s why you’re a Stark now. It’s as simple as that._ ”

“No, I know,” Peter told him plainly. “I just hate that people think you would do that...that they think you only got stuck with me. I just wish people didn’t see you like that because it isn’t true and I’ve been reading it all month and you know it’s bothered me but - well, it’s just that no one’s said it right to my face like that before and it made me mad. I… really wanted to hit him.”

“ _Who was it?_ ”

“Just an annoying kid. I don’t know him that well.”

There was another moment of silence and Peter almost thought Tony wasn’t on the other end of the call anymore. But then he heard him take a sharp intake of breath and then speak again.

“ _Do you want me to talk to the school? Try and get people to stop saying that crap?_ ” His tone was unsure but like he was trying to pretend it was the opposite.

“No, that… that wouldn’t help. But thanks,” Peter replied, starting to smile a little. “You helped.”

“ _How?_ ” Tony asked, nearly laughing the word.

Peter shrugged, even though Tony wouldn’t see it. “I just needed to talk about it, I guess. I’m… a little less mad.”

That time Tony actually did chuckle a little. “ _Not planning to go punch anyone now?_ ”

“Nope,” Peter grinned. “I, um… I’ll let you go. Gotta get to class anyway. I’ll see you when I get home, ok?”

“ _Great,_ ” Tony said with a smile Peter could hear in his voice. “ _Try and have a good day, yeah? I love you._ ”

Peter froze, his mouth opening but no words coming out. His hesitation must’ve made Tony think he wasn’t going to respond because the call ended only a moment later.

“You too,” Peter whispered and slipped the phone back into his pocket. With a deep breath, he opened the classroom door and went back into the sea of students.

-

Peter managed to make it to the end of the day without punching anyone. Actually, by the end of the next week he still hadn’t punched anyone, though he _had_ come fairly close a couple more times.

Tony? Well, he came close to that a few more times than Peter did. Luckily, he was never near the people he wanted to punch so it wasn’t an issue. His desire to hit them wasn’t ever strong enough to make him leave the tower and hunt them down.

Due to the opinion that Peter didn’t need to know about it, he didn’t say much about it. But the articles and rumors were getting to him just as much as his kid. The ones which were rapidly becoming his least favorite all involved some conspiracy about the whole thing being fake.

Some people seemed to think that was all some kind of scam or that there was some ulterior motive behind it.  Really, it didn’t make any kind of sense to Tony. Why would be have had a kid for over a month and barely speak about it if it wasn’t even real? That would be an awful lot of work for some reason Tony doubted would even be a good one.

There was a lot Tony had decided he wasn’t willing to say. He didn’t want to just open the entire story of Peter’s life and set it out for the world to read. But he wasn’t going to let people say that Peter wasn’t his kid. And he was also sick of people saying Peter was his biologically because that came with things that got to Peter a little too much.

So Tony decided something was going to have to be done about it. They’d been relatively silent for too long and that was going to change.

It was for that reason that Tony was waiting on the couch and practicing what to say when Peter came home from school on Friday.

“So, our powerpoint assignments are due next… what’s wrong?” Peter’s cheery smile slipped into a cautious one as he dropped his backpack on the floor. “I know that look. You’ve been reciting what you’re gonna say in your head, huh? Or was it out loud this time? FRIDAY?”

“Just in his head,” the AI informed him helpfully.

Peter smirked at Tony and sat down next to him. “So?” he asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Tony looked back at him with a tight smile, exhaling slowly through his nose. “Oh, you know me so well.”

“I do actually,” Peter responded, smirk growing as he spoke. “C’mon, just say it. I can take it. I can tell you’re not mad at me so I’m probably not in trouble. Therefore, I see no reason not to hear whatever it is.”

“Ok,” Tony replied. “I want you to do an interview.”

Peter’s smile completely disappeared within second of hearing that. “Um - well - _what?_ ”

“I just… think it might be smart. We can take back a little control, you know? I’m getting kinda tired of watching everyone make up all the pieces to puzzle.”

“I mean, it can be a little funny sometimes,” Peter offered halfheartedly.

Tony chuckled and nodded with a quirk of his eyebrows. “Yeah. That’s fair. But I know you’re getting pretty tired of some of it too. Look, I didn’t make you do a press conference before and I’m not going to make you now either but… how about just a small one?”

Peter grimaced and looked away. It wasn’t necessarily the worst idea he’d ever heard but it didn’t sound all that appealing either.

“I’ll be right there with you,” Tony offered hopefully, gently nudging Peter’s arm. He watched the teenager closely, waiting for a response.

“When would we do it?”

His dad shrugged at that. “Not sure. Maybe on Sunday but we could wait if you want more time. There’s a charity event I’m supposed to go on Tuesday evening and I was thinking I’d bring you along but people will want to talk to you. I thought doing this first might make that easier. It’s up to you though.”

Peter took a deep breath and then turned to face Tony again, offering a willing smile. “Ok. Sunday then.”

“Thanks, kid,” Tony grinned, ruffling Peter’s hair. “Listen, you tell me all about that powerpoint assignment in a minute, ok? I want to hear about it, honestly. Just let me go for a second while I get this all set up. If we’re doing it on Sunday then I want to get it all organized beforehand.”

Peter nodded, still smiling. “Ok. It’s not… it’s not that important anyway though.”

“Ok, but I still want to hear about it,” Tony assured him as he left the room, already talking to FRIDAY as small diaphanous screens appeared in front of him.

Neither of them were really sure what to expect from this sudden press conference. Tony would make sure it was small and private. He wouldn’t let anyone in if he didn’t have a reason to think they were somewhat trustworthy. At least as trustworthy as a journalist can be..

No matter what else, they’d be together. That alone would make it easier for Peter. As soon as Tony had left the room, Peter was pulling up videos of Tony at various press conferences throughout the years on his laptop. He figured he could take some basic notes and try to figure out how to do the kinds of things Tony was so used to. He watched the famous “I am Iron Man” video a dozen times, even though he’d had it memorized since the day he saw it on tv. There was something calming about it and it made Peter feel like he could do anything.

Maybe he wouldn’t have wanted to call any kind of press conference but Peter decided he could try and make the best of it. And maybe it would even be kind of fun. He’d just pretend the people in front of him were the students who asked him questions every day. That should make it easier since he’d gotten some kind of handle on that by then…


	33. Chapter Thirty-Three

“Ok, kid,” Tony said as he combed Peter’s slightly messy hair back with his fingers. “Here’s the thing… if I give you a whole bunch of pointers and tips and advice and all that.. I think it’ll stress you out more. It’ll give you a checklist you’ll think you need to worry about. So let’s just go with one thing, ok? Try and turn your nerves into excitement.”

“How do I that?” Peter asked, swallowing hard and fighting the urge to look at the door. They were standing outside the room all the journalists were waiting in. Tony said there only fifteen of them, which was supposed to sound small apparently.

“Well, just - just tell yourself it’s excitement, ok? Don’t let yourself see it as nerves.”

Peter furrowed his eyebrows and tugged at his sleeves. Tony had said he could just wear whatever made him comfortable so he’d put on his favorite sweatshirt and a nicer pair of jeans, still trying to look at least a little bit like he cared. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Ok,” Tony said calmly and with a slight shrugged. “Don’t worry about it if you can’t do it, ok? We don’t need more worrying. Just - you said you’re going to try and think of it like at school, right? Well, I know you have fun with that sometimes. So let yourself have fun now. And try and be excited about it. It’ll make you seem more confident too.”

Peter frowned slightly but nodded, taking a deep breath. “Ok. I’ll try. I mean, I guess that makes sense. Is that what you do?”

“When I’m nervous, yeah,” Tony told him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Ok. Are you ready to do this?”

Peter glanced at the door and then back at his dad’s reassuring smile. He nodded firmly. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s do it.”

The doors opened to an unexpected silence. All that could be heard as the people turning in their seats to watch as Tony and Peter came in to sit in front of them all. There were a few quiet sounds indicating whatever they were using to record the press conference being turned on and quite ruffling of pages for the ones were just going to write. Peter didn’t know people still did that…

Apparently, Tony had made it very clear that no one was allowed to say anything unless it was their turn to ask a question. There weren’t any camera on, though some people had them sitting on their laps or the ground by their feet. There were a couple photographers sitting in the back of the room. Another rule Tony had given was that there would be a specific time for pictures and other than that time anyone who pulled out a camera would be kicked out.

Tony and Peter were sitting behind a table, which Peter knew wasn’t Tony’s usual MO. It was purely to make Peter feel a little more protected.

The awkward screeching sound the chairs made when they pulled them out made Peter winced. That was one of his least favorite things anyway but there were people just _staring_ at him and it somehow seemed worse than when it happened in a classroom.

“It’s ok,” Tony murmured as he sat down, reaching up to wrap a hand gently around Peter’s right wrist and pull slightly to encourage him to sit down too.

Peter was convinced that he sat down too fast and looked stupid but Tony assured him later that it was fine. Besides, no one was allowed to film it so even if it had happened it wasn’t like people could go back and look at it.

Tony sat leaned back in his chair so he could keep a hand comfortingly on Peter’s back, which was hunched forward until Tony kneaded a shoulder blade and got him to straighten it.

“Well,” Tony said, flashing a smile at the journalists in front of them. “This is Peter. Before I let you ask questions, I’ll just tell you a little bit about the situation here. He’s my kid and there’s no room for debate there. Got that?”

He said it so confidently and proudly that Peter could feel an actual warmth grow in his chest.

“Also,” Tony continued. “It’s not biological. He’s adopted. It was completely by choice, which goes for both of us. Also, he’s an incredible kid and you should be very grateful that I’m letting you be in the same room as him.”

Peter bit his lip as he felt his cheeks heating up. He saw Tony watching him with a teasing grin and knew he’d said it just to see him blush. Peter glared slightly at him but smiled a little. So far, he was just trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone. He knew he couldn’t keep doing that if he wanted to seem confident.

“Ok, who’s first?” Tony asked suddenly, eyebrows raised as he scanned the faces before them.

Everyone seemed to raise their hands at once and it stunned Peter enough that he hardly heard what Tony said next.

“Peter, why don’t you pick someone to ask the first question?”

The second he registered what he’d hear, his head snapped to the side to stare at his dad, completely wide eyed.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Tony urged gently, smiling at Peter and giving him a reassuring wink.

“Um - oh. Ok, uh, yeah…” he looked back at the people again and swallowed hard. He spotted a girl near the front who sort of reminded him of someone from school. Hoping that the slight familiarity might help, he pointed hesitantly at her. “Um, y - you?”

She seemed surprised and dropped her pencil, squeaking awkwardly and fumbling to pick it up as everyone else lowered their hands dejectedly. “My question isn’t about the actual adoption. Is that… Ok?” She asked, looking between Tony and Peter, earning a slightly baffled nod from each of them. She smiled brightly. “Well, we don’t know you at all so I just wondered if there’s anything you could tell us about yourself?”

“Um… yeah, I mean,” he glanced sideways at Tony, looked for some kind of clue on how to answer and only got an interested grin in response. “Well… I like science so… yeah. I - I don’t know exactly what you were looking for there. Do - uh - was there something specific about me that you were wondering?”

More hands shot up then and Peter felt sort of bad when Tony called on someone else. He wasn’t sure if he’d answered the question the right way. What if she _had_ been wondering something more specific and now she couldn’t ask?

“Is that you met? Science?” The next person asked. This one was a middle aged man with a dark beard and bald head. He was peering over his glasses with raised eyebrows while he waited for an answer.

“Sort of?” Peter shrugged, looking over at Tony and reminding himself to straighten his back again. At least he’d made eye contact with both of the people who had asked questions so far. That was something, at least.

“Our shared love of science certainly played a part in bringing us together, yes,” Tony took over smoothly, still smiling proudly as he pointed to the next person.

Peter didn’t think he could ever answer questions so assuredly. He didn’t think he was doing a very good job at following Tony’s advice, as hard as he was trying, and the environment was so different that it made it difficult to think of this like one of lunchroom interrogations he faced at school. He just hoped he wasn’t letting Tony down.

“What happened to Peter’s parents?”

The question was directed at Tony, the journalist not even looking at Peter when he asked. For some reason, that annoyed Peter. After all, it was a question about _his_ parents who Tony had never even met.

“They died,” Peter answered matter-of-factly, even surprising himself a little. “That’s typically what happens to make people into orphans.”

Tony cleared his throat in an obvious attempt to mask any kind of reaction to Peter’s blunt answer to the question and pointed to another person, shooting Peter what he hoped was a somewhat encouraging smile.

“Are there any plans for Peter to take over your company for you once you’ve retired, Mr. Stark?” the woman asked, looking between the two of them in search of an answer.

“I don’t have any retirement plans at the moment,” Tony answered her easily.

“I’d like to work there though,” Peter put in with a small, brief smile. “When I’m older.”

“Aren’t you an intern there now?” the same woman asked before there was a chance to let someone else get a question in.

Peter met her eyes and frowned as he considered his answer. He wasn’t entirely sure what his answer was supposed to be at that point. Since people had found out that Tony had adopted him there hadn’t been much reason to talk about the intern thing anymore.

When Peter didn’t say anything, Tony answered for him. “He was. We’re focusing on school for now.”

“What’s school like for you? Do you have a lot of friends now that you’re rich?” The person who had spoken hadn’t been told they could ask a question and earned an annoyed glance from Tony.

“Hold on a second,” Tony said, his tone sarcastically polite. “I don’t think we pointed to you. Kid, you go ahead and pick someone else,” he said to Peter, making a mental note not to pick that person at all for the rest of the press conference.

Peter nodded with a barely audible sigh and pointed to someone who wanted to know if Tony was planning to adopt any more kids and if the reason he’d adopted a teenager was that it wouldn’t have to be a long term thing. Tony told her that was stupid and didn’t justify any more of a response. But he also said that there were certainly more kids who needed to be adopted and more people should look into it.

The questions ranged from trying unmask secret motives on Tony’s part to just trying to get to know Peter a little more. Peter preferred the ones Tony could answer for him but he _did_ manage to relax a lot by the end. He wasn’t seated so stiffly in his chair and was trying not to beat himself up if his answer didn’t seem perfect to him. He found himself thinking back to the videos of Tony he had watched and trying his hardest to exude the same amount of confidence that his dad did, though he knew he couldn’t quite reach that level yet.

Somewhere along the way, Tony and Peter began some unspoken competition to give the best answers. ‘Best’ in this case meaning ‘most vague yet temporarily satisfying’ answer. Tony was better at it because he’d been doing it longer but Peter got better as the press conference progressed and he was pretty sure he’d be even better than Tony sooner or later. At least at that one thing…

He wasn’t sure why they’d started doing it except that once Tony had noticed that Peter was trying to subtly imitate him… he seemed to have taken it as a challenge to be more, well, _him._ And it made the whole experience more fun so Peter wasn’t complaining.

The nerves came back almost full throttle when Tony said it was time for pictures. It had been calming to know that they hadn’t been allowed to take pictures before and had made it easier to relax. Now he was suddenly worrying about how obvious it was that he wanted to crawl under the table while he watched everyone getting their cameras ready.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his head to look at Tony.

“Breathe, kiddo. We’re staying behind the table. You don’t have to move or anything, ok?” Tony smiled fondly and squeezed his shoulder gently. “We’re just going to smile, that’s it. Here, let me…” He let go of Peter and reached into his coat pocket, pulling a folded pair of red tinted glasses. He opened them and slid them onto Peter’s face, using a thumb to brush away the tears that had just started to form in Peter’s eyes. “Confidence, remember? They’re just cameras. You don’t have to be scared.” His hands moved back down to Peter’s shoulders.

“I’m not scared of the cameras,” Peter sniffed slightly. “I - I just… I’m nervous. I don’t know why. It’s just… new.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Tony assured him with a comforting smile. Then his eyebrows pinched together and he looked back over at the journalists and photographers. “Huh. I guess some of them got a bit of head start.”

Peter didn’t have to follow Tony’s gaze to know what he meant. He chuckled and shrugged a little, still looking at his dad. “I’m not really surprised. Those should be some interesting pictures, huh?”

“Yeah, I have a feeling I’m going to like them,” Tony grinned fondly just as Happy told them from the side of the table that they were ready for pictures.

It was a little silly and peter would be the first person to tell you that…but the glasses actually helped a little. Or maybe it was just being next to Tony and feeling his arm around his shoulders the whole time. Either way, he relaxed considerably. He managed to pull off a genuine smile for a few pictures but it didn’t last very long.

“How much longer?” Peter muttered out of the side of his mouth as his smile turned into a grimace.

“Not long,” Tony told him a moment before digging his fingers into Peter’s side and getting an involuntary burst of laughter from the teenager.

Tony loved those pictures.

-

“ _You look happier_ ,” Rhodey said over a video call the next day while Peter was at school. Tony had been getting some things done and the workshop and had figured he’d call his friend for some company. Rhodey was scrolling the pictures from Sunday that had just started to be released.

“Yeah, well… I am, you know?” Tony shrugged and shot a grin at his friend through the screen. “I’m really proud of him for getting through that. It wasn’t easy but he was ok. And he was in a good mood the rest of the day too, which was fun.”

“ _Peter’s usually a pretty cheerful kid, right?_ ” Rhodey asked, still looking at pictures and chuckling when he came across one from right as Tony had decided to tickle Peter. Tony was wearing a mischievous grin and looking at Peter as if he was the world. Peter’s eyes had widened in shock and his jaw was hanging open as the corners of his mouth turned up in laughter. “ _I mean, how often is he in a bad mood, really?_ ”

Tony sighed at that and set down the tool he’d been using. “It’s not so much a bad attitude as just… sad. Or scared or - or guilty for some inexplicable reason or nervous or just… worn out, you know? He has bad days like anyone else, regardless of how young and excitable he is, you know?”

Rhodey hummed in consideration, tilting his head as he continued to stare at the pictures. Tony wondered which one he was looking at. Tony had them all memorized by then, of course. “ _But not yesterday, huh?_ ”

“Yeah, it’s the sunglasses,” Tony told him with a smirk on his lips. “They give him confidence.”

“ _I’m not sure it’s really the glasses but sure, Tony,_ ” Rhodey chuckled. “ _Any plans today?_ ”

Tony paused and thought about it before shrugging casually. “Whatever Peter’s up for, I guess.”

His phone vibrated violently on the table next to Tony and he reached over to grab it and read the notification.

“Oh, he texted me. Hang on, Rhodey,” Tony said as he unlocked his phone.

**The cafeteria pizza’s soggy again! And they’re out of chocolate milk. :( Also, Ned isn’t coming over to build Legos after all and he won’t say why.**

“Well, that’s not good,” Tony muttered.

“ _What’s not?_ ” Rhodey asked, clearly getting a little concerned.

Tony waved him off as he started to type his response. “He’s just having a sucky day at school. So he might be sad when he gets home. Hey,” he said brightly, looking up suddenly. “Do you want to come over for dinner?”

Rhodey shrugged and nodded good-naturedly.

“Great,” Tony breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll have Happy come eat with us too. We can watch a movie or something. It’ll be fun.”

**Don’t worry about it, kid. I’ll have the ice cream ready as soon as you walk in the door. I love you.**

The response he got a millisecond later made him freeze a little.

**You too, Dad. :)**

“ _What’s wrong now?_ ” Rhodey questioned, the concern returning to his voice.

Tony shook his head, clearing his throat and smiling at his friend. “Nothing’s wrong… I just - he texted me back pretty quickly there.”

Rhodey raised a curious eyebrow. “ _Does he not usually?_ ”

“No, he does,” Tony nodded, trying to appear casual as he told himself it wasn’t _that_ big a deal. “It was just a nice text, is all. Anyway, I should go but I’ll see you whenever you show up for dinner, all right?”

Rhodey nodded but gave Tony a slow smile as if he knew something as he ended the call.

Tony tried to just laugh it off. It was ridiculous to be that happy, right? It wasn’t anything Peter hadn’t said before… it was just that it was two things Tony loved to hear and _together_. And the usual hesitation that always came when he responded to ‘I love you’ hadn’t been there. He had just texted right back.

And who was going to notice or care if Tony spent the rest of the time Peter was at school grinning like an idiot?

-

Rhodey ended up getting takeout on his way to the tower, which excited Peter enough that Tony got over his annoyance and having his plans to try a new recipe fairly quickly. He didn’t stay for the movie after but Happy did and said he wasn’t going to sit through any space movies. Peter didn’t feel like picking anything so he let Happy choose something.

Tony said that was far too much power to give the man and the most he should’ve been allowed was a suggestion but the damage had been done.

And that was why they were watching Downton Abbey at ten to twelve.

Happy had convinced them to let it watch under the pretense that it would only be one episode and that would be short than if he went with his favorite movie version of Jane Eyre. He had maybe lied a little about that one.

Tony fell asleep within the first few minutes of the first episode. If he’d been awake when it had ended, he wouldn’t have let them start the next one. But Peter? He wasn’t asleep and figured he’d be nice and agree to another episode.

He only fell asleep during the last episode they watched. The only reason he even made it that long was that he refused to stop making jokes and commentary throughout it, no matter how much it annoyed Happy.

As soon as Tony woke up and realized it was nearing midnight and Peter was sleeping he shut the tv off and got his kid to bed. Peter had tried to argue that he didn’t need to go to sleep for a moment before remembering that he didn’t exactly want to stay up and watch Downton Abbey either. After that thought he went to bed with no complaints whatsoever.

The show may not have been his favorite but Peter had enjoyed the evening. He felt better after spending time with the three older men and had no qualms about leaving to go to school in the morning.

Tuesday was rather uneventful although a lot of kids were bringing up the articles published after the press conference. Really, the only thing it was changing was the actual questions people asked him. There were just more now since they’d read the answers he and Tony had given and apparently had follow-ups of their own.

The weirdest thing about school was that Ned still wasn’t talking to him about why he had cancelled their evening of Legos. Peter tried to pester him about it at nearly every opportunity but Mary Jane kept telling him to lay off their friend. Apparently she felt that Peter had no right to complain or be bothered by secrets.

Peter really wished she would let that one go…

Happy was there to pick Peter up as soon as school was out. Naturally, everyone had to stop and stare at the car. Happy wasn’t concerned with picking a low profile ride.

Since Tony still wanted to take Peter to the charity event he was attending that evening, he’d decided Peter should get back quickly to get ready for it. He assured Peter that he was actually letting him _under_ dress but it still felt stiff and uncomfortable.

The event itself wasn’t so bad, actually.

Peter had been worried that Osborn had been there even though Tony had made absolutely certain that no one was expecting him to show up. Luckily, Harry had shown up to represent his dad since he was apparently not feeling well. When asked, Harry had no idea what was wrong other than that he’d been irritable and seemed pained every time Harry had seen him lately, which wasn’t often since he was usually shut away somewhere.

Because the event was a dinner, they didn’t have to worry about people coming up and asking questions too often. It was really just in the beginning and the end and the Starks stuck together so it wasn’t so bad. Lights and noises caused by all the loud conversations and camera everywhere were only enough of an issue for them to just leave early. Tony said that wasn’t really unusual for him anyway, which _did_ help to make Peter feel a little less guilty about it.

Harry and Peter managed to get Harry’s seat switched so they could sit by each other during the dinner. Tony wasn’t impressed with that plan but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

Really, it made no sense to him how Peter could be so ok with Harry. Even ignoring his dad, Peter had been pretty fed up with him at school lately because of Mary Jane. Tony would’ve expected him to ignore Harry at least a little. And yet they spent almost the whole time talking with each other and while Peter didn’t seem entirely comfortable Tony genuinely didn’t think it was because of Harry. He would’ve been uncomfortable no matter who was sitting by him.

On Wednesday, everyone at school wanted to know if the charity dinner had been as glamorous as it seemed from the pictures. There had been celebrities there and so many students just _needed_ to know if Peter and Harry had met their favorites. Luckily for Peter, Harry had spent all the time he hadn’t been with Peter and Tony just wandering around and talking to people. He _had_ met a few celebrities and had stories to tell about ones he’d met at similar events previously.

That meant Peter had something to redirect all those questions to with a quick explanation that he hadn’t met anyone. It didn’t take too long for people to get that Harry was the one to ask and not Peter.

After school that day, Tony had taken Peter to the compound to shoot with Bucky for a while and after that he’d gotten a driving lesson before they left. Peter felt like he had made progress in both areas.

Thursday had been as uneventful at school as seemed to possible for Peter at that point. He had spent the majority of the day texting his dad about how boring it was.

Once school was let out, he and his friends had gone out to get Thai and that had been fun until MJ accepted a ride from Harry _again_. Even then, he reassured himself on the way home by telling himself that he was getting closer and closer to getting his license. It wouldn’t be too much longer until he could drive her home instead.

So up until Friday morning, Peter would say he’d been having a pretty decent week. But that was _before_ school had started.

-

“I just don’t get why it’s even a secret,” Peter said for what felt like the hundredth time since Monday.

Ned gave Peter a dry look and stopped walking briefly. Peter stopped too and neither of them said anything even another student bumped into them, startled by the sudden halt.

“I’m just saying,” Peter continued as they kept walking. “I tell you everything now. And I _thought_ you told me everything too.”

“Don’t try and guilt me, Peter,” Ned sighed. “And the key word there is ‘now’, by the way. You tell me everything _now._ You weren’t for a while there and you probably wouldn’t have stopped keeping secrets if I hadn’t found out. MJ said you kinda have to put up with at least one secret.”

Peter’s eyes widened. “Wait, you told Mary Jane? But you won’t tell me? Come on, Ned, I’m your _best friend_!”

“I know you’re disappointed that I canceled our plans,” Ned sighed again, refusing to answer. “But, to be fair, that’s another thing you were doing all the time before and MJ -”

“I don’t need to know what MJ said about it,” Peter cut him off. “I can guess. And that’s not the problem. I don’t mind that you canceled. I just wish you would at least tell me why!”

Ned frowned at Peter as they stopped again and Ned went to unlock his locker. “See, I knew you’d do this. I knew it was a bad idea.”

Peter raised his eyebrows and leaned in closer to his friend. “Who said it wasn’t a bad idea? Who convinced you to keep secrets from me?”

“I feel like you’re smart enough to figure it out with everything I’ve already said, man,” Ned told him with squinted eyes. “And I’m not saying anything else because I was sworn to secrecy.”

“What are you talking about? What am I supposed to - wait, was it Mary Jane?” Peter gasped, eyes widening. “She’s actually _in_ on this secret? That explains why she cares so much about getting me to leave you alone about it…”

“Ok, _yes_. You figured it out,” Ned admitted in a slightly harsh whisper. “I was with Mary Jane on Monday night and I canceled our Lego building plans because of it, ok? Can that please be enough for you?”

“What were you doing?”

“Peter!”

“Ned, come _on_ ,” Peter begged as Ned shut his locker and started off down the hall again.

Ned huffed frustratedly but nodded. “Fine. Ok.” He lowered his voice even more, as if he was terrified that Mary Jane would suddenly _know_ what he was saying and appear beside them to  make him pay for it or something. “She said she needed to come over and talk to me about something super important that you aren’t supposed to know about. And I’m not going to tell you what it is because I’m not that bad of a friend, ok? She was just looking for someone to talk to about, like,feelings and stuff. ‘Cause she has this crush on… someone, ok? And she needed to just get everything off her chest and she decided I was the only person she could talk to about it, all right? Can that please be enough for you? And swear you won’t say anything to anyone!”

Peter nodded rapidly. “Yeah, of course,” he assured his friend sincerely, even though he was totally planning to text Tony the second he could. “So… can you just tell me if -”

“ _No_ ,” Ned cut him off. “I have to go to class. You’re in a different one that starts in two minutes so I’m walking away now. _Do not_ tell MJ!”

“I won’t!” Peter promised as he hurried off to his class, pulling out his phone the second he got in his seat.

**Ned finally told me why he canceled on me. MJ was telling him all about her feelings and stuff! He said she has a crush but he won’t say who it is and she specifically said he wasn’t allowed to tell me anything!!!**

He stared hard at the scene while he waiting for a response, chewing his lip and drumming his fingers on the desk. The text came a minute later.

**She has a crush on you.**

Peter’s eyebrows pinched together as he frowned at the screen.

**No, it’s obviously Harry! :(**

**How is that obvious? She didn’t want Ned to say anything to you because it’s about you.**

Peter huffed at the screen and texted a response.

**No, it’s because she knows it’ll upset me that she likes Harry. And Ned is even more aware of that and that’s why he actually kept it a secret all week.**

He could actually hear the amused chuckle as he read the next text, which just annoyed him even more. It wasn’t funny.

**Ok, kid. We can talk more at home. Learn some stuff in class, please. Love you.**

And that was only the beginning of his problems that day… as he contemplated everything he’d found out from Ned and the conversation with his dad all through class, Peter just couldn’t shake the feeling that it was going to be a very crappy Friday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I couldn't get two chapters posted last week! I don't want to mess up the schedule because it'll get everything all confused in my brain so, unfortunately, this is still a one chapter week. But I do have a fic recommendation for you! This time, it's the You're Just Making Them Up Now series by princessfbi. It's a series of short stories about Happy and Peter and I absolutely adore them! I re-read them a lot and think they deserve a lot of love! ^-^


	34. Chapter Thirty-Four

There was something very odd about sitting in the chemistry lab and opening up a biology textbook. It just felt wrong.

However, since someone had gotten sick in their usual biology room, they’d had to borrow a different classroom while the equipment that had apparently targeted was cleaned up. Since all they were doing was presenting their powerpoints, it didn’t really matter what room they used as long as he had a projector.

Peter had done his presentation earlier that week so all he had to do was sit there while two other kids gave theirs. He had no idea which classmates were going that day until he took his seat and was immediately attacked by Flash.

Ok, so he didn’t attack him so much as just… fling himself in front of the seat Peter had taken.

“I need to talk to you,” Flash had said almost urgently.

Peter frowned and leaned back a little. “Ok? What is it?”

“I’m doing my presentation and I think you might be able to help me with it.”

Really, Peter couldn’t even believe the words coming out of Flash’s mouth. He would never have believed that Flash would admit something like _to his face_. “Um, ok… what do you need?” He was anticipating this being some kind of trick. It had to be…

“Ok,” Flash started, grabbing the stool behind him and dragging it over so he could sit down directly across from Peter, shoving some the currently unneeded lab equipment out of the way. “You know how we can get extra credit if we do our presentation on, like, our own theory?”

“Well, you have to convince the teacher but yeah… Where are you going with this?”

“That’s what I did and I’m worried she won’t think it’s convincing,” Flash told him, crossing his arms on the desk. “So if I get a bad grade, I need you to help me prove I’m right.”

Peter’s confused frown deepened. “How? And why me? You hate me.”

Flash scoffed. “Well, obviously I’m only asking you because I don’t know anyone else who could help with this. Listen, you’re a Stark now, ok?”

“Yeah?”

“So you know the Avengers, don’t you?” Flash questioned, clearly planning to go somewhere with the seemingly random subject.

Peter shrugged and glanced over at Ned and Mary Jane, who were sitting together at the desk next to his. They both shrugged back but were clearly listening closely to what Flash was saying. He turned back to Flash. “Um, basically… I don’t know them all that well. I mean, I’m pretty tight with Iron Man but -”

“Shut up, Par - _Stark_. I get it, he’s your dad. Just - could you listen please?” Flash huffed impatiently and shoved his curls back from his forehead. “Ok… so how well do you know Spider-Man? And… would he do a favor for you?”

“Uh… what?” Peter breathed a short, disbelieving laugh. “What kind of favor? And what does this have to do with your presentation because I feel like we’ve switched gears here so -”

“I thought you were supposed to be so smart,” Flash interrupted him with an annoyed glare. “The presentation is _on_ Spider-Man and if I get a bad grade then _you_ need to get him to prove I’m right!”

Mary Jane leaned forward so she was almost in front of Ned, who moved his stool back to accommodate her. “Flash, this is _biology_ ,” she said with a smirk. “And you’re doing a presentation on Spider-Man?”

Peter buried his face in his hands to hide his amusement and embarrassment.

“Yeah, I am,” Flash responded confidently, ignoring Peter. “It’s still biology. It’s the study of life, Watson. Spider-Man is alive.”

She squinted her eyes at him and her smirk grew. “Is he? Can you really know that for certain?”

Flash glared angrily at her and was about to respond when the teacher told everyone to get to their seats. With another annoyed huff, Flash shoved the stool back to its place and took a seat until he was called up for his presentation.

Apparently, Flash had been paying close attention to Spider-Man for months. He’d been working on his theories about his powers since before the biology assignment so it was come as a golden opportunity to put his hard work to good use.

According to Flash, Spider-man was a mutant and every one of his abilities was biological. Peter was pretty impressed with just how much thought he had put into it all and every one of his theories pulled from actual spider biology.

If it were up to Peter, Flash would get a pretty high grade just for the thought he’d put into it all. Was he right? Not really. But Peter thought it might be pretty convincing to someone who didn’t know the actual answers.

“I think if we could look under the flesh on his wrists, we’d see spinneret glands similar to the ones spiders have,” Flash declared proudly, showing a slide that showed a suspiciously photoshopped x-ray of Spider-Man’s wrist. Peter winced a little at the thought, which he knew Flash wasn’t the only one to consider.

Ned was snickering into his hand through the whole presentation and Mary Jane was displaying a perfect poker face, though Peter could see an amused twinkle in her eye when he looked over at them, suppressing a grin of his own.

Just as Flash had gotten to explaining why Spider-Man had to hold his fingers a certain why to shoot his webs and what purpose the webshooters served, Peter felt a sudden flare in the back of his neck. Right as he began to wonder why his spider sense was acting up, the kid next to him let out a sharp shout and stumbling back off of his stool.

Peter gasped when he saw the kid’s notes burst into flames. Apparently, he’d been messing with the chemistry equipment and had seriously messed up whatever he’d been doing.

Just as the fire got to Peter’s own notebook, he grabbed it and jumped back. He’d been trying to save it before the fire could get to it.

“Crap!” Peter shouted, dropping the book to the ground and trying to whack away the flames that had already gotten to his sleeve from the notebook.

Mary Jane was suddenly next to him and trying to help. “Peter - _Peter_ , get it off!”

“Uh, ok - ok!” Peter’s hands fumbled along the hem of his sweatshirt and he yanked it up over his head, tossing it with the still burning notebook. The teacher, who had apparently been trying to get the fire extinguisher off the wall, hurried over to spray everything that was still in flames.

“All right, class, it’s fine! Everything’s fine,” the teacher said, holding her hands out and looking around the room at everyone. Mostly, no one was doing everything. They all seemed too stunned to react, though a few had taken out their phones to film it, as seemed to be the immediate reaction for so many people in almost any event. She turned back to Peter and froze mid sentence. “It’s ok now and we can…”

“What - what’s wrong?” Peter asked, concerned at the frightened expression on her face. Still breathing hard as he tried to calm down after the moment of pure panic he’d felt, he looked down at himself and everything suddenly caught up to him.

His t-shirt had come off with the sweatshirt, as had one of the webshooters. Ned noticed that on the ground and dove for it before anyone else seemed to notice it. They were all to distracted by Peter anyway, who was standing completely bare chested and exposed.

Every scar his healing factor hadn’t taken care of was on full display for his class. He could feel nearly every set of eyes on his left arm, which he hurried to hug against his chest.

“Peter…” the teacher said suddenly, her tone gentle and careful. It sounded as if she was worried he might fall apart if she spoke to loud. Peter realized he probably looked that way. His eyes were wide and his breathing was… well, not exactly going to convince anyone that he was ok. “Do you need to go to the nurse? I’m sure we can find you a new shirt.”

“I - I, um…”

_Breathe. In and out._

He heard the sound of someone’s phone taking a picture and flinched, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Peter, let’s go to the nurse, ok?” Mary Jane suggested softly, putting a hesitant hand on his shoulder. “You aren’t breathing right and we’re going to help, ok?”

Even though he was trying to tell himself to, Peter didn’t move. He couldn’t seem to do much else but stand where he was and try and will himself to disappear. He still closed eyes stung with tears threatening to fall.

He could hear people starting to whisper about him. This was worse than when they first found out he’d been adopted.

“Who did that to him?”

“Since when is he that fit? He’s actually kinda hot…”

“Did you see his arm? Gross!”

Peter’s already shaky attempts to breathe normally turned to panicked gasps and he opened his eyes as he felt the teacher trying to guide him out of the classroom.

“Hey, you’re ok, Peter,” she assured him when she saw his briefly terrified eyes. “We’re just going to get you out of here. Mary Jane is going you to help you get to the nurse. Uh, Ned,” she said, turning to address his worried best friend. “Why don’t you gather the rest of Peter’s things? Take your time and just bring his backpack to the nurse as soon as you can, all right? Class, don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

“We can call your dad as soon as we’re out, ok, Tiger?” Mary Jane mentioned, clearly trying to persuade him to move.

Peter gave a jerky nod and let them get him out the door. He could feel himself burning up from the embarrassment of all the eyes on him and focused on just not making eye contact with anyone.

As the door shut behind them, he heard Flash ask, “Uh… do I keep going or…?”

“No, just - just, wait!” the teacher called behind them and then ushered Peter away from the door. “Ok, Peter, can you try and look at me? I just want to help and I want to know you’re listening.”

“I - uh, no,” he coughed, wincing as the tears started to trail down his cheeks. “Sorry - I’m sorry.”

He heard Mary Jane saying something but he only got pieces of it as he tried to focus on his breathing. He heard something about helping with this before and about calling his dad. Then his teacher was trying to talk with him again.

“Peter, I’m going to get back to the class. Will you be all right to go with Mary Jane? Ned should be along soon.”

There was a part of Peter’s mind telling him to say something but it was all he could so to just nod and hold back a sob when he tried to respond. He hugged his arms even tighter around his torso, only just realizing how much he was shivering.

“Ok,” Mary Jane breathed, moving so she was directly in front of Peter as their teacher entered the classroom. “I need to get you to the nurse. We’ll call Tony when we get there. Can you go with me?”

Peter forced himself to look up at her. He inhaled deeply, hating how shaky it sounded. “Yeah… ok.”

He could tell how hard she was trying to keep it together and help him. As much as he wanted to just hide somewhere and cry, he was going to try as hard to make this easier for her.

It was immediately worth it when he saw her relieved smile. He tried to smile back but it turned to more of a grimace instead.

“Great,” she sighed, still smiling though Peter suspected it was mostly meant to be reassuring. Then she reached over and held onto his elbow as they walked through the hall to the nurse.

Peter kept his eyes down the whole way other than to glance at Mary Jane every now and then. She was sending warning glares to everyone who stared or pulled out a phone. She kept a hold on his elbow the whole time but didn’t seem to mind how much he was shaking. Her voice was quiet but sure as she continuously told him to breathe.

They weren’t too far from the nurse so it didn’t take long to get there. They were both grateful for that.

As soon as they got in the door, Mary Jane let Peter slide to the floor in the corner and pull his knees up to his chest while she explained the situation to the nurse.

Now that he could be somewhat still again, Peter squeezed his wet eyes shut once more and rested his forehead on his knees while he tried to get his breathing back on track. If Tony was going to come and get him, which Peter knew he would if they were calling him, he didn’t want to be like this when he saw him.

“Peter?” he heard Mary Jane ask suddenly. When he looked up, she had taken a seat directly in front of him on the ground. “Do you want to call Tony or should I?”

“You,” Peter said, his voice thick and constricted. He fumbled around in his pocket and pulled out his phone, holding it out to her. Then he folded his arms on his knees and pressed his mouth and nose up to them, watching her navigate his phone.

“It’s ringing,” she told him, holding the phone to her ear and keeping her eyes on Peter. “Oh! Hey, Tony, it’s MJ. No, he’s - ok, he’s not fine. You need to come to the school.”

Peter felt his chin quivering and he ducked his head again, gasping for breath.

 _In and out._ _Slowly._

“It’s - his shirt caught fire - no, it doesn’t matter _how._ The point is that it happened and - and everyone saw him,” Mary Jane continued. Peter stilled briefly as her fingers threaded through the hair at the back of his head but he relaxed under the touch a moment later. She decided not to pull away when she noticed his breaths start to calm down. “You need to bring a shirt because he doesn’t have one, ok? He just really needs you right now. I’m waiting with him in the nurse’s office. Ned is supposed to be here soon with his backpack so he can leave.” She was silent for a moment and Peter could hear the faint sound of Tony’s voice through the phone but not well enough to know what he was saying. “Ok. Yeah, I’ll stay with him. Don’t worry, just - just get here.”

Peter was vaguely aware of Mary Jane setting his phone on the chair next to them. Then the nurse was handing them a spare gym shirt for Peter to wear. As horrible as it was - far too tight and unfamiliar - he was willing to wear nearly anything to cover up at least a part of his upper body. The second he’d pulled it down, his head was back down against his knees. The next thing he knew, Mary Jane was pulling him forward and cradling his head to her shoulder, fingers still weaving comfortingly through his hair.

-

When Tony had answered the call from his son’s phone, he had been expecting to hear Peter complaining about how much Mary Jane was smiling at Harry during lunch or something. He certainly hadn’t expected to hear _Mary Jane_ telling him that everyone had seen the scars his son worried so much about and that he was needed as soon as possible.

Regardless of how much he hated that he’d had to receive that call, he was out the door as fast as he could go, grabbing one of his old band shirts from his dresser and the set of keys he’d left on the counter after going out earlier that day.

He may or may not have run a couple lights…

There wasn’t much going through Tony’s head other than that he needed to help his kid. Even with the limited information he had, he knew Peter wasn’t going to be ok. He also knew that if his classmates and teacher had seen his bare skin there would be the aftermath to worry about too…

Tony didn’t waste any time telling anyone why he was there. In fact, he didn’t speak to anyone even when they tried to speak to him. He simply swerved into an empty spot and rushed into the building, going straight to the nurse’s office and hating that he even knew where it was. He didn’t want to Peter to have to go there at all. Why couldn’t things just be easy for his kid?

The second he got to the open door, he spotted the two teenagers wrapped around each other in the corner. Mary Jane was running her fingernails along Peter’s scalp at the back of his head, his face buried against the crook of her neck. He had his arms wrapped tightly around her middle and Tony could see his shoulders shaking as he cried softly.

“Peter?”

Not a second after hearing Tony’s voice, Peter’s head shot up in response. His eyes were wide and rimmed with red. Seeing Tony seemed to open the floodgates again and his dad was on the floor beside him in a second.

Tony gathered the teenager up in his arms, holding his now sobbing son safely against his chest. Mary Jane shifted backwards and leaned against the wall, biting her bottom lip as she watched them and tried to pretend she wasn’t.

“I’m so sorry,” Peter gasping, clutching at Tony desperately. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, Peter,” Tony whispered as he pressed a comforting kiss to the top his son’s head. “Listen, don’t be sorry. I don’t know what happened but don’t be sorry, kid. I’ve got you, ok? I’ve got you.”

Peter nodded and pulled back, surprising Tony. “Did - did you maybe bring, uh, a different shirt? This is… _really_ uncomfortable.”

Tony chuckled and pulled the wadded up t-shirt from his coat pocket. He shook it out and held it towards Peter, who took it gratefully.

He hesitated to take off the other shirt at first. The idea of exposing himself _again_ sounded pretty awful but ultimately, he really wanted the comfort of his dad’s shirt so he decided to just deal with it and change shirts as fast as he could.

Once it was on, Peter hugged it to himself and closed his eyes, sighing in relief as he leaned forward against his dad’s chest again. His tense, shaking body relaxed significantly and he sighed again. “I’m not giving this shirt back,” he mumbled against Tony.

“That’s fine,” Tony chuckled and hugged Peter a little tighter. “It’s just one shirt, right? Hey, Mary Jane? What’s the situation with that backpack? I kinda want to get him home.”

“Um,” Mary Jane pulled out her phone to check for a text from Ned, biting her lip again. “I’m not sure. I can text him or -”

Just then, Ned burst in breathlessly, holding Peter’s backpack out in front of him. “I’m sorry! I was trying to hurry but - well, everyone was talking about it and I couldn’t _not_ set some of them straight, you know? They were - they were being jerks…” He looked down at Peter and frowned worriedly. His voice lowered to a whisper then. “Is he doing ok?”

“I’m ok, Ned,” Peter sniffed, sitting up so he could look at his friend but not letting go of Tony at all. “Thanks for… just thanks.”

“Anytime, man,” Ned smiled and set the bag down next to them. He looked at Tony and shifted his weight between feet awkwardly. “Do you… need anything else or…?”

“No,” Tony answered, shaking his head with a smile. “I think we’ll be ok. I appreciate you two helping though. You can get back to class.” He pulled away from the hug then and got back up to his feet, pulling Peter up as well and just hugging him to his side.

Ned still looked worried but nodded with a small smile towards Peter. “Well.. I’ll see you, I guess. I hope you’re ok, man.” He glanced over at Mary Jane and then left to get back to class.

Mary Jane started to go but stopped to face them first, her eyebrows pinched together and her lips turned in frown as she kept chewing at her lip. “Peter… I’m sorry this happened. Um… can I - can I maybe give you a hug before you go?”

Peter looked a little confused but nodded, wiping at his wet eyes with his still uncovered wrists and wincing when he caught sight of the scars again.

As soon as he’d moved away from his place against Tony’s side, Mary Jane wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tightly. Then, just as quickly, she left the room, wiping tears from her own eyes and hoping they wouldn’t notice.

“Ok, kid,” Tony sighed, putting his arm back around Peter’s shoulders again. “Let’s get home, all right? It’ll be ok. You’re gonna be just fine.”

“Yeah,” Peter said, his voice still choked as he nodded half heartedly. As soon as Tony had made sure it was ok to take him, they were getting into the car and heading to the tower.

The drive home was quiet. Peter sat curled in a ball and clearly didn’t want to talk so Tony didn’t try and make him. His tears didn’t really come back full force until they got inside and he got a text from Ned, warning him that people had posted pictures and videos online and it was spreading fast.

He couldn’t get enough words together to explain so he just gave Tony his phone and curled up on the couch, hugging a pillow to his chest as he dissolved into a sobbing mess once again.

It took a while but Tony’s comforting words calmed him down eventually. He didn’t get too worked up again for the rest of the day. It was just a steady stream of silent tears and a quivering chin. Tony was fairly certain, as much as it made his heart ache, that the biggest reason for that was that Peter had just cried too much already. He was spent and lacked the energy to cry anymore.

-

“Dad?” Peter said quietly later that night, then wrapped up in one of Tony’s hoodies and still curled on the couch. He’d barely moved since coming home from school. Tony sat with him the whole time and played Peter’s favorite shows on the tv but neither of them watched it. The volume was kept down pretty low anyway since Peter’s senses were more heightened than usual, thanks to his highly emotional state and his complete exhaustion.

“Yeah, Pete?” Tony looked down at Peter with a tired smile. Peter had curled himself up so much it was hard to believe he was a sixteen year old and not a ten year old. “You ready for bed? It’s getting kinda late.”

Peter frowned and shook his head slightly. “No. I’m… a little scared to fall asleep right now. It’s just that I’m already kinda freaked out and… thinking too much so…” He shook his head again. “No, I just had a question.”

“What is it?”

“Um, just - well, what are they saying?”

Tony frowned at that, knowing exactly what Peter was referring to. “I don’t know, kid.”

Peter raised his eyebrows at Tony and tugged the hoodie closer around himself. “That’s not true. You’ve been looking at your phone, like, all day. There’s no way you haven’t been looking, I know you better than that.” There was a pause. “I thought we weren’t going to lie to each other.”

“No, I - Peter, I’m not trying to lie to you,” his dad sighed, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees as he ran a hand over her face. “I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to have to worry about this. Can we just talk about it in the morning?”

“I’ll probably just read it myself when I go to my room,” Peter mumbled, partially against the couch, which half his face was pressed against. “I think I kinda need to know. Dad, I don’t want to go to school tomorrow and not know what they’re saying.”

“Ok,” he said slowly with a nod. “But can we just talk in the morning instead? Don’t read anything yet. Just - just try and get some sleep and I promise we can talk in the morning and I won’t lie or hold anything back from you. Deal?”

“No, because I already told you -”

“Kid, it’ll be harder to sleep if you know what people are saying, ok?” Tony cut him off, looking over at Peter again. “I know you. You’re scared and you’re tired and you’re nervous so sleeping is going to be hard tonight. But if you know what they’re saying, you’ll have even more to think about and it’ll make it even harder. You’ll sit there and beat yourself help for being scared, for worrying, and even for beating yourself up because you know you aren’t supposed to do that. At least if you sleep first you won’t know the details.”

Peter squinted his eyes at Tony, looking unconvinced. “But now I’ll just worry about how bad it is. And I at least know it’s bad now so how different will it be if I know the details?”

Tony leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes, sighing again. “I just wish you could get some sleep for once, Peter. I don’t know how to help you.” His eyes snapped open again when he suddenly felt Peter curl up against his side again.

“Sorry,” Peter whispered. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad. We can talk in the morning. I’ll stop asking.”

“Thanks, kid,” Tony chuckled. He leaned his head to the side and rested his cheek on the top of Peter’s head. “Stop being sorry though, ok?” He knew if Peter had possessed just a little more energy he would’ve kept arguing. It was a bittersweet victory for Tony. He was glad Peter wasn’t putting up a fight against him but wasn’t too fond of the reason for that…

Even so, there was no more fighting that had to be done on either part after that. It was fine to just be with each other. Their arms wrapped around each other tightly and that was how they stayed for the rest of the night.

-

There was some variety in the response the pictures got online.

Mostly, everyone wanted to know what had happened to Peter. The majority seemed to believe it was the result of living in an abusive home. Tony suspected that the reason that theory got so popular that weekend was that people still wanted a reason for the adoption. Now they had one, even if it was only backed by speculation.

Tony Stark had rescued Peter Parker from abusive guardians and had given him a new home and name so he could move forward.

The next most popular theory was that Peter had done it to himself. There a number of suggested reasons that he might’ve done that but the favorite was that he was just mentally ill. And once again, it was suggested as a reason that Tony had taken him in. He was broken and needed to be fixed.

Even more people were simply interested in gossiping and judging. They weren’t that concerned with the cause so much as just the fact that the scars were there. Everyone had something to say about them and most of it was awful.

It didn’t get any better over the weekend. Rather, it got worse and worse to the point that Tony considered homeschooling Peter or something. It was all anyone seemed to want to talk about. They kept saying how weird it looked or how disgusting it was. As much as he wanted to, Tony couldn’t stop Peter from reading it. He had agreed not to try and keep it from him because Peter was right. He couldn’t go back to school without knowing what to expect. Tony wasn’t going to send him in completely blind. That would be cruel and he knew Peter would be better off with some time to prepare for it.

Nonetheless, that weekend hurt. Every broken look, every sob, every tear, every self deprecating whisper he actually seemed to believe, every panic attack and nightmare… Tony was absolutely gutted by all of it.

Things had been getting better. Peter had stopped hating his scars so much. He’d been so close to believing Tony. One incident was all it took; a handful of pictures and Peter was broken.

It wasn’t permanent and Tony made certain that he didn’t stop reminding his son of that… But he was broken and hurting.

Every time Peter seemed to relax, he’d start to cry or panic again and Tony would realize he’d been looking at his phone. He’d hold his kid and tell him it was all wrong and that he was there. He’d make him feel safe enough to calm down and in no more than an hour or two it would just happen again.

It was a vicious cycle that neither of them had really been prepared to deal with.

But with or without the warning Tony wished they’d gotten, it wasn’t hard to find the words to reassure Peter. Tony had a response to every insult and remark they heard or read. He truly believed everything he said to Peter, which was that none of those people knew what they were talking about and Peter was incredible the way he was. His scars didn’t define him and didn’t get to control him. Norman was never going to hurt Peter again if Tony had anything to say about it. He believed all of that wholeheartedly and it was that belief that made a difference.

Everything seemed to have caught up to Peter and he knew he couldn’t have gotten through it without Tony. It wasn’t just that people knew about his scars and had things to say. It was the attention that had been bothering him all along even if he’d been doing a good job on pushing forward and focusing on the positives whenever he could. And it was the thoughts and feelings he’d had for the better part of a year. They’d all resurfaced and he hated himself again. He barely slept that weekend, instead waking up from nightmares after sleeping for no more than ten minutes at a time. He wouldn’t go to his bed so he and Tony stayed on the couch instead. It made it easier, anyway…

Still, Tony wasn’t sure letting Peter go to school on Monday morning was the best idea. Regardless of Tony’s offer to let him skip a few days, Peter insisted that he had to take a shower and get ready to leave.

Tony would be lying is he said it hadn’t cheered him up tremendously when Peter asked if Tony could make muffins for breakfast as he left the room to get ready.

“Oh, those smell good,” Peter said with a small smile as he walked back into the kitchen, inhaling deeply and heading to the counter stools. “Did you make the cinnamon ones?”

Well, _that_ made him even happier. Still though…

“Are they almost done?” Peter asked as he sat down, raking his fingers through still damp curls. His smile was there but it looked like a bit of a chore to keep it that way to Tony.

“Kid, please don’t go today,” Tony tried again, leaning against the counter and looking Peter in the eye. “It’s ok to miss a couple days. You’ve hardly slept all weekend. Barely eaten either. I just don’t know if this is such a good idea.”

Peter frowned and propped his cheek up with the palm of his hand, elbow on the countertop. “If I don’t go they’ll think they have power over me though, right? Normally, that’s the kind of thing you’d tell me.”

“Normally you haven’t spent the entire weekend bawling your eyes and gasping for air.” He wasn’t angry. He just sounded sad. Somehow that seemed worse to Peter…

“I - I’m _really_ trying to be better,” Peter told him. “I’m trying to not freak out. This weekend, I - I wasn’t trying. Not really. I just let myself be scared because you were there to make it better. But now I’m trying to, like, _choose_ to be ok, you know?”

Tony sighed but nodded slowly. “Ok. I’m not going to make you stay here,” he said, straightening himself and moving towards the oven. “You can go. Just please don’t feel like I’m going to be disappointed if you have to call me to pick you up, agreed?”

“Yeah. Agreed,” Peter breathed, his smile returning. It was still small but it was genuine.

“Ok,” Tony said, smiling back as he pulled out the muffins and slid them onto the counter. “But if you’re going to go, I need you try to remember some things. If I go ahead and give you a list can you keep track of them all? And promise me that you’ll go through them all day?”

Peter narrowed his eyes slightly, not breaking eye contact as he stretched forward to grab a muffin from the tin, hissing slightly when his fingertips brushing the hot metal. “I guess?” He settled back into his seat and peeled the paper from his muffin.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad,” Tony chuckled and moved around the counter to sit beside Peter, grabbing a muffin of his own. “All right. Number one…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that was something. ;D
> 
> Next chapter on Thursday!


	35. Chapter Thirty-Five

_“I love you.”_

That was the first thing on Tony’s list.

It was also the last thing he said as Peter left for school, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and trying to prepare himself mentally. He didn’t quite register it until he got to the bottom floor. Then he pulled out his cellphone to respond with, “ **You too** ,” before he left the building entirely.

He took a little longer to walk to school than usual. While he believed what he’d said to Tony about why he should go, it was still daunting. He didn’t want to skip school but being a little late didn’t sound too bad…

So he took his time while he walked. He let himself breathe the whole way, doing exercises he’d learned with Tony. Trying to drown everything else out, he kept his music turned up. His ear buds didn’t come out until he was through the door of the school.

Ned and Mary Jane were waiting for him at the entrance. He offered a weak smile in response to their worried ones.

“I’m ok,” he told them softly, forcing a quick smile. “Did you guys have good weekends?”

“Peter, you haven’t been answering our texts,” Ned brought up, ignoring his question. His tone was hushed, as if they were discussing a secret. It seemed pointless to Peter. Everyone knew what had happened anyway. “We’re all really worried.”

“’All’?”

Ned nodded, frowning deeply. “Yeah. Everyone. You’re not that free with your number so people have been texting MJ and Harry and I. Mostly Harry since he pretty much gives his number to everyone. Anyway, everyone’s worried.”

Peter sighed and slipped by his friends, going forward in the building. He wasn’t sure what “everyone” meant to Ned. Everyone that liked to hang around their table or just… everyone? And were they worried or curious?

He couldn’t help but wonder…

_“None of these people know what they’re talking about.”_

That was the next thing. Logically, Peter knew it was true. Emotionally, it was hard to convince himself that Tony was right.

He walked into school already feeling the stares on him and hearing people’s whispers. They were seeing things he often said to himself in his worst moments. It was hard to believe they didn’t know when they seemed to be voicing his own thoughts.

Maybe that meant he didn’t know what he was talking about either…

“Peter, please talk to us.” Mary Jane came right up next to him, hugging a few books close to her chest. Her eyes were glued to his, even as he stared straight at his feet. “Why were you ignoring us all weekend? We didn’t know what happened.”

“Yeah, you did,” Peter replied, his tone determinedly light. “You were here, remember?”

“That’s not what I meant.” Even though he wasn’t looking at her, Peter knew she was frowning.

“Come on, man,” Ned almost whined from behind them. “We’re just trying to help.”

“Tony didn’t think I should spend too much time on my phone. I wasn’t really reading any texts, ok?” Peter told them. It wasn’t entirely true. He’d read them and worried about how to respond. He didn’t know how much he wanted them to know… He felt weak and terrified and he didn’t like the idea of his friends knowing how much this was breaking him. Once the thought of texting them made him worry and tear himself up so much, Tony had told him not to text anyone until the idea of it didn’t upset him anymore.

“Hey, Peter!”

Peter looked up to see Harry coming towards them from the other end of the hall. He sighed and looked down again, pretending he hadn’t noticed him. Harry wasn’t really the first person Peter wanted to see after spending the weekend having nightmares about his dad.

He veered off toward his locker and busied himself with going through his books. Mary Jane and Ned stayed to the side and if he’d cared enough he could’ve hear their conversation. But he was too focused on remembering Tony’s list and how to breathe. Worrying about his friends were saying didn’t seem that important to him.

Then Mary Jane was going off in Harry’s direction with a look Peter’s way. Peter didn’t look back at her. He didn’t have to energy to deal with all that just then.

“You’ve don’t have to talk to us,” Ned said suddenly, standing right next to Peter and staring hard at him. “But we’re not going to just ignore you back, ok? I don’t want you to be alone today.”

“Thanks, Ned,” Peter replied quietly, still not looking at him. He appreciated it. He really did. It wasn’t that he  _wanted_  to ignore them but he was trying to figure out to approach the day and could only focus on so much at once. “I don’t really want me to be alone either.”

Peter had tried -  _really_  tried - to just not listen to anyone. He and Tony had talked about it and they knew people were going to be talking about it. It would be easier if Peter just didn’t listen at all. But these girls were standing right there and not even trying to be quiet or pretend they weren’t staring at his arm as if they could see through the thick material of his sweatshirt.

“I bet he did it to himself. He’s always been weird.”

“Yeah, except that it doesn’t look that when people cut. My cousin used to so I know.”

Breathing in slowly, Peter reminded himself of that second thing again.  _“None of these people know what they’re talking about.”_

With a quick glance to the side, moving only his eyes, Peter saw them looking at the picture on one of their phones. They were still trying to figure out if it could’ve been self inflicted. Peter didn’t understand why it mattered to them anyway.

“Peter, let’s go to class, ok?” Ned suggested. He sounded worried. It was Peter’s fault…

“Yeah,” he breathed, nodded and shutting his locker. He bit down on his lip and told himself to just keep his eyes down as he walked past the two girls. They watched him as he passed by, still talking about him. He was determined not to listen to the actual words.

_“You don’t owe anyone any answers. So don’t tell them anything you don’t want to.”_

Peter slid into his desk without a sound, making sure to keep to himself while they waited for the class to start. Ned barely looked away from him the whole way through class, watching closely with one hand wrapped around his phone. He wasn’t sure who Ned was planning to report to if something happened but Peter was positive it was something like that…

“Stark, Peter.”

His focus switched to the teacher when he heard his name called. He hadn’t even noticed her coming in.

She gave him a sympathetic smile when he looked up, visibly surprised, and raised his hand quickly. It made everyone else look at him too…

Flash didn’t look away when the rest of the class started to. He sat in the row to Peter’s left and one seat ahead. Even when everyone else’s attention drifted back to the teacher, Flash watched Peter over his shoulder.

They maintained eye contact for a few solid minutes before Peter looked down at his notes and started scribbling. There was something about the way Flash looked at him and he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Flash always seemed annoyed by him for some reason or another and to varying degrees but there was something  _other_  than annoyance in his look then.

It was pretty obvious to anyone who paid attention that Peter wasn’t listening. He scribbled aimlessly throughout the entire class and didn’t answer a single question. He didn’t give any signs that he was even sort of aware of what she was going over.

Of course, the teacher didn’t say or do anything about it. It didn’t seem to bother her. Rather, as he left the classroom after class, she asked if she could do anything for him. He forced a grateful smile and told her he didn’t need a thing.

He heard people talking about how weird he was. They had already come to that conclusion after seeing his scars but now he was going through school completely spaced out. He barely acknowledged anyone and would hardly make eye contact. A few people even noticed him wiping tears from the corners his eyes throughout the day.

Peter realized that he hadn’t heard Flash say a single thing about it.

At least not until lunch.

Just as Peter was making his way to the cafeteria, he noticed his classmate trying to get his attention with small waving motions. Peter stopped walking and looked at Flash with furrowed eyebrows.

“Hey, can I talk to you?” Flash asked almost hesitantly, walking over to Peter, who took an instinctive step back. “Come on, Peter, just for a minute.”

“About what?” Peter questioned warily.

“Well - Look, can we maybe go somewhere a little more private? It’s not something I want to say in front of everyone,” Flash told him, his tone quieted and clearly uncomfortable.

Peter sighed and bit his lip, glancing toward the cafeteria and then back at Flash. He nodded and hoped he wouldn’t regret as he followed Flash around the corner to an empty section of the hallway. No one would walk by them there unless they were going to or from the restrooms.

“I just wanted to say…” Flash took a deep breath, preparing himself for whatever he was about to tell Peter. “I - I  _understand_.”

Peter’s confused frown deeped. “What are you talking about?”

“Well… you know,” Flash shrugged, as if it answered the question. When Peter only managed to look even more baffled, Flash suddenly grabbed his arm and held it up.

Peter stiffened, eyes widening. “ _Flash._ ”

“Sorry,” Flash mumbled, dropping Peter’s arm. “I wasn’t trying - sorry.”

Immediately hugging the arm to his chest, Peter took a deep breath. Tony had told him not to stop breathing today. “It’s fine… just - I still don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“I’m saying, I get it,” Flash told him insistently. His expression was more open and… kind than Peter thought he’d ever seen. “Look, I’m sorry I’ve always been such a jerk to you. It wasn’t - wasn’t cool and there’s no good excuse for it. I know it doesn’t make it better, but I had no idea that someone was hurting you, Peter.”

Peter’s jaw dropped slightly. “Flash…  _no_. It’s not - it wasn’t like that.”

“You don’t have to worry about it! I’m not going to say anything to anyone. But it makes sense now, right? Why you were even adopted, I mean. And not just by, you know, Tony Stark… but it was really confusing because you already had a home and your aunt’s not dead but - I mean, it makes sense now.”

“ _No_. Flash, Ben and May  _never_  hurt me. This - this isn’t like that, I swear,” Peter insisted. He wasn’t sure why he cared so much about getting  _Flash_  of all people to understand but he didn’t want anyone thinking that. And Flash looked so… concerned about him. It was weird and Peter wanted out of it. “Please don’t think that.”

Flash sighed but nodded. “Ok. I get it. I wouldn’t want to talk to me about it either but… Listen, if you ever  _do_  need to talk, I’ll be around, ok?”

Then, with a friendly clap to Peter’s shoulder as he left, Flash walked away. He immediately switched his cocky grin back on as he went to talk with some of the kids he tended to hang around with, going on as if their conversation hadn’t just happened.

Peter was still confused but decided to shake it off and think about it later. He could still only focus on so much at once.

_“It’s ok if you have to for a while, but don’t hide in your shell all day.”_

Ned, Mary Jane, and Harry were waiting at the door on the side of the cafeteria Peter always came through. As soon as he got there, they walked through the line with him and then asked where he wanted to sit. He was extremely tempted to ask to go back to that table by the trees outside…. But the whole reason he’d come to school was to make sure that people didn’t think he was going to hide. Tony had understood that, hence his fourth reminder on the list. Really, he felt like he was screwing that up already by trying so hard not to talk to anyone. He had figured that if he didn’t engage in conversation, no one would know how hard this was. In reality, everyone could see that he was anything but ok.

“Um… just the normal spot is fine,” Peter answered, having to work at making sure his voice didn’t shake. The ‘normal spot’ was at the side of the room but not entirely out of the way. It was where they sat when Peter  _didn’t_  want to hide. All three of his friends looked surprised at his answer and didn’t make any moves to go there so Peter took the lead.

As much as Peter wanted to just keep avoiding eye contact, it had to end somewhere.

“Did you guys have a good weekend?” he asked with a false cheer. Even though he hadn’t wanted to think about it, his mind was trying to come up with some reason that Flash had been so insistent that he understood if  _that_  had been what he thought…. Some  _other_  reason, anyway. He needed to think about something else because he was starting to feel guilty for some reason and that was one of the things Tony had explicitly said he was not allowed to do. “Do anything fun?”

“Are you serious?” Ned asked, squinting at him. When he looked around, Peter saw that all three of them were looking at him with matched expressions of utter disbelief.

“Peter, come on, we’re not going to talk about  _us_ ,” Harry scoffed. “We’ve all been worrying about you since Friday.”

“Fine,” Peter replied, narrowing his eyes. ‘But I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Ok, look, no one is explaining anything to me,” Harry told him, his tone low as he leaned forward, trying not to draw attention. “I know Ned and MJ know what’s going on with you; know what the  _heck_ happened to you. I’ve been asking because I’m worried. And no one is telling me! Will you just - just please give me something here.”

Peter frowned and stabbed at his pizza with a fork he’d grabbed even though he hadn’t needed it. “No, Harry. You don’t have to know everything, ok?”

“I’m not asking to know everything,” Harry responded shortly. “I’m asking to know  _something_.”

“Harry,” Mary Jane murmured warningly. “Leave it be, ok? You don’t need to know right now.” She turned her attention to Peter, clearly trying to stare into his soul as usual. “Are you holding up ok, Tiger?”

“I’m…”

She killed his beginning lie with no more than a look.

“It’s scary and I feel like I’m walking around naked,” Peter told her flatly. “Everyone is looking at me and talking about things I didn’t want anyone to know.”

Mary Jane nodded consideringly. “Ok. Thanks for saying it.” She nudged his shoulder with her own, a smile smile on her face. “What are we going to do about it?”

Peter shrugged and took a bite of his pizza. It wasn’t soggy so that was nice. “Keep pushing, I guess.”

“Uh,” Harry cut in and cleared his throat awkwardly. “Speaking of pushing, I’m sorry about that. That I was pushing you. I’m just worried is all.”

“Thanks. I’m just…” Peter sighed and slumped forward a little. “Can we just talk about something else, maybe?”

The others agreed, though Mary Jane gave Peter an unimpressed look. He figured she wouldn’t have let it slide if it hadn’t been for some of their classmates coming over to sit with them, as they’d come to do automatically over the past month and a bit.

Lunch was pretty uneventful after that. Peter hardly said a word but tried to seem interested in the conversation he probably wouldn’t remember later on.

_“You are strong.”_

“Stark, if you aren’t feeling up to it, I won’t make you participate.”

They were doing a group exercise in peter’s public speaking class, which would require him to not only be the center of attention at any given moment that the teacher happened to call on him, he’d also have to engage with the rest of the class and make eye contact with people.

It sounded like torture and was one of his least favorite things to do. He was pretty tempted by the offer to sit it out… But it was just school. He’d made it through the press conference with Tony and he could do this too. Who cared if they were all looking at him differently -  _again?_  He’d be fine.

“Thanks,” Peter gave a grateful smile. “I’m ok though.”

Mary Jane caught his eyes from the other side of the classroom and gave him a thumbs up, even winking subtly.

He responded by darting his tongue out at her and right back in again before he could be seen by the teacher. This was something he’d been doing to her since they were small and he had no idea why he still did it. It had always been a friendly thing though and they both knew it.

She mouthed the words “vary mature” at him, exaggerating the movements to be sure he could read her lips. She just got a pleased grin in return.

Public speaking was a fun class to be in with Mary Jane. Peter got to see a bit of a different side to her that most people would never guess was there.

For someone who usually kept to herself and just observed and considered everyone else’s words and interactions, Mary Jane was very good at the whole speech thing.

Peter knew she had a lot to say. The work and thought that went into her presentations for the class had never surprised him. Rather, it was just how natural it seemed to be for her.

In contrast, it was possibly one of Peter’s worst classes. He was still doing ok in it but it didn’t come easily and made him nervous.

Apparently, most of the class liked the kinds of exercises they were doing then more than they liked to give presentations. Peter preferred to be able to do research and get his outline just right.

That was how he was pulling through the class.

Their teacher seemed surprised when Peter said he’d participate, which drew everyone else’s attention to Peter faster than he’d expected. A small voice in the back of his head advised just saying he’d changed his mind and then leaving the room altogether. But a larger voice, which sounded suspiciously like his dad’s, told him that he was strong and would be just fine.

So he pushed through and tried his best in the exercise. He was about as good at it as he ever was but that was going to be counted as a small and personal victory, he decided. After all, he’d been expecting to do worse than usual.

They were done before the bell rang so the teacher gave the class permission to just use their phones or something until class was officially out. Peter was going to try and talk quietly with Mary Jane but she was thoroughly focused on her drawing, which, when he trying to peek over her shoulder, looked like a currently blank person flying - swinging, maybe? - through the city.

Since she was apparently busy, he opted to text his dad instead. He was a little surprised when he didn’t get a response. His text had been one that he’d thought would make Tony happy.

**It started out pretty rough but I’m going ok now. I’m remembering your list and it’s helping a lot. Thanks, Dad. :)**

He’d expected some kind of response to that…

His thoughts on the matter were interrupted by his teacher, who called him over to his desk to talk. Peter shoved everything in his backpack before going over, figuring he’d be talking to his teacher for all of the two minutes they had left anyway and not really wanting to have to go back to his desk.

“I wanted to say I appreciate your making the effort to participate today,” he told Peter with an almost pitying smile. He was crazy if he thought Peter missed the way he glanced at his arm. “I know you must be feeling overwhelmed at the moment… no one would mind if you needed a break, even just from participation if you don’t want to take a sick day.”

“I’m not sick,” Peter told him with a halfhearted chuckle.

“No, I - I know that,” the teacher told him awkwardly, clearing his throat and nodding. “Well… anyway, I just don’t want you to feel any pressure in any -”

“That’s the bell,” Peter interrupted, grinning. “Gotta go. Thanks for the chat!”

He left the classroom as fast as he could.

The list Tony had given him was pretty long. Tony had actually written it down in case Peter forgot. He was keeping it folded in his pocket and he hadn’t had to look at it yet. Still, he couldn’t remember every part of it off the top of his head.

Mostly, that was because he just kept going back to the first part, which was the last part as well.

_“I love you.”_

When Peter got back to his locker to switch his books, he heard something that made him pause what he was doing. Some kids directly across from him were talking about someone being angry and he could’ve sworn he heard his dad’s name. He just had no idea what they could possibly be referring to…

Peter hadn’t even realized he’d looked over his shoulder at them until he saw that they’d noticed and stopped talking altogether. That was odd…

He shrugged it off and shut his locker, walking off toward his next class without giving them another thought. But then he heard someone else…

This person was talking about a video and as soon as she saw Peter walk by she stopped talking, pointed at him, and whispers, “oh, there he is!”

So yeah, it was definitely a little weird. He couldn’t shake the idea that this was something more than what had happened on Friday.

Ned hurried up beside Peter then, which wasn’t unusual since their next class was together. But Ned looked worried and kind of excited too… but like he didn’t think he should be excited.

“Ned…  _what?_ ”

“What do you mean, ‘what’?” Ned asked very annoyingly.

Peter shot Ned a soft glare. “You’re being weird without even saying anything. Just tell me whatever it is you’re thinking about, please. Enough people are being weird right now without my best friend doing it too.”

“Ok,” Ned shifted closer to Peter as they walked, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Did Tony say anything to you about filming a video today?”

“What kind of video?” Peter’s screwed up in complete confusion. No, he hadn’t said anything about that…

“Well, like… a passionate speech kind of video,” Ned told him as if it explained it away entirely. “Because he totally filmed one and put it online. On, like, every social media site there is. And he used his personal accounts  _and_  the Stark Industries ones. It’s trending basically everywhere. I just saw it five minutes ago.”

Peter came to a sudden halt and someone behind him bumped against his shoulder, glowering at him as they kept walking and he didn’t.

“Um, Peter?” Ned stopped a few steps later and turned around. “You ok?”

Peter blinked a few times and waved off Ned’s question. “Ned, what’s the video about? What did he say?” He could guess.

“Well,” Ned began slowly, sounding as uncomfortable as he was starting to look as he shifted his weight between feet. “Maybe you should just watch it. I don’t know if I could really do it justice. But, I mean, we’re going to be late for class soon so -”

“You go,” Peter cut him off, attempting to sound somewhat casual. “I’m just… I’m going to the library. Don’t worry about covering for me, it’s fine. I just… need to go to the library.”

He walked off in the direction of the school library before Ned had a chance to say anything about it. If there was a video, he had to watch it and he wasn’t going to waste any time in doing that. People were just going to keep talking about it and he didn’t want to be out of the loop on something like this.

Once he got into the library, Peter gave the librarian a friendly smile in an attempt to look like it was definitely not weird for him to be there. She looked like she was about to ask him something when a look of recognition took over her features and she gave him a smile instead, letting him go about his business.

It was pretty likely that she knew what was going on with him and was trying to do him a kindness. She knew he was skipping class.

With a small sigh, he nodded in thanks and went off to the back corner of the room, where he knew he would be the most hidden among the shelves. He also knew there was a usually a beanbag over there and that certainly didn’t hurt anything.

Sure enough, the worn out but perfectly usable beanbag was sitting on the floor seemingly waiting for him to sit on it. He dragged it right up into the corner and plopped himself onto it.

Right as he unlocked his phone, Tony finally texted back. Really, it hadn’t been that long. Longer than he usually waited for a response from him but still not a crazy amount of time.

**That’s great, kid! I’m proud of you.**

That was somewhere on the list, Peter remembered… He smiled and told himself to text back after he found out what exactly was going on.

It wasn’t hard to find. Just as Ned had told him, it was trending. He saw it the second he went to look. No search was even needed.

Peter plugged his headphones into his phone and put them on, taking a deep breath before clicking on the video. He knew what this was going to be about without bothering to see what it had been titled or what people were saying. He wasn’t stupid and it wasn’t hard to figure out.

Still, he wasn’t sure quite what to expect. What had it been Ned had said about it? ‘Passionate speech’?

The video opened with Tony sitting on the couch and looking straight into the camera.

It was the couch they ate ice cream on nearly every day. Most people didn’t know that floor even existed because he didn’t let anyone other than friends in. It didn’t look like everything else in the tower, which was all exactly the way you would expect the home of a rich scientist to look. But no, that floor just looked like home. It was spacious and bright, sure, and Peter was sure Tony hadn’t exactly bought the furniture from Ikea. But it looked like you could be comfortable there, and you could. There was nothing about it that said you should worry about sitting there or made you think it wasn’t lived in. It was very clearly someone’s home.

There was a part of Peter that felt worried at the thought of people seeing that… one of his sweatshirts could be seen tossed over a chair that stood at the table across the room, just past Tony’s shoulder. Both of them had left books sitting in various places and Peter noticed the notebook he’d been working in while modifying his web fluid. It was  _their_  home and people had seen part of it now. That felt weird but, really, what didn’t at that point?

And when Tony started talking, Peter understood why he’d filmed it there. He was being entirely honest. This wasn’t like the version of himself he usually showed the world. This was different.

 _“I’m going to assume you know who I am,”_  Tony began, not taking his eyes from the camera. It was like he was speaking directly to Peter or probably whoever else was watching it…  _“Chances are high you know me as a billionaire, a scientist, or a superhero, right? That’s how you think of me? Well, I am all of those things, yes, but right now? Right now, I’m speaking to you as a father. Because I’m one of those now too. And you are hurting my kid.”_  He paused, sighing slowly as a frown formed on his face. He was trying to stay in control; trying not to get too emotional. He had to say whatever it was he was going to say.

 _“I think most people have seen the pictures and video of my kid that showed up online the other day, all thanks to some inconsiderate classmates of his. You know him by now, right? Peter? He’s a great kid,”_  he said with a fond smile and a little shrug.  _“He’s probably the greatest kid you could ever hope to know. He’s ridiculously kind and forgiving, which I don’t imagine anyone was saying about me at that age. He’s smart too. Funny, thoughtful, passionate, and so incredibly brave.”_

Peter felt his face heating up as he watched the video. Tony was sitting with his arms resting on his legs, leaning towards the camera and speaking so earnestly. He had forgone the charismatic smile and somehow confident disinterest, which was a thing Peter was amazed could even exist. Even though he seemed to know exactly where he was going, this didn’t feel scripted or rehearsed. He was just talking. He was just… Tony.

 _“I realize that you don’t know this… but Peter has gone through a lot in his life. And that’s sad because he’s only sixteen but he’s faced more pain than most people my own age. Still, all of that is true of him. He’s not bitter about it. It’s easy to assume that because someone is as strong as he is, they’re just ok. That’s not true. Really, this is none of your business but we spend too many nights sitting up right here where I am because he can’t get back to sleep after a nightmare. There are things that scare him; things that haunt his dreams. There’s way too much weighing on his heart. And I’m his dad, which means that I’m the one who’s there to hold him and try and make it better. I’m the one who protects him and just tries to make him feel safe.”_  He paused again, looking away briefly. When he looked back into the camera with a humorless smile, his eyes were shining.

“ _I can’t explain how it felt to be called to his school and find him curled up in tears because his class had seen the scars he tries so hard to hide. He already hated them because of people like you. People who gossip, mock, and judge and make sixteen year olds think that they’re broken and flawed and need to hide themselves in sweatshirts too big for them. Then it exploded and every time he looked at his phone this weekend he heard even more of that as you spread around and analyzed those pictures that shouldn’t have been taken. The idea that anyone would think in a situation like that one to take out their cellphone and post about it online, putting another human being into such a vulnerable and miserable position… that disgusts me. I don’t like that my son is surrounded by people like that at school every single day of the week.”_

Peter chewed on his lip, which was starting to get raw from the amount of times he’d bitten it that day alone. He brushed away the tears that had started to trail down his cheeks.

The Tony that Peter was watching on his phone screen wasn’t quite crying yet. But he was clearly getting there. His voice was starting to falter and he couldn’t seem to decide if he was angry or just sad. It was both though and Peter understood that. He could see the two emotions fighting to be the one on top.

 _“What I don’t understand is what goes through a person’s mind to make them think that is an ok way to treat a kid. I can’t imagine being so insecure and hateful that you would even think the things you’re saying, let alone actually say them.”_  Tony shook his head in disbelief and shrugged almost helplessly. A hand came up over her eyes as he let out a heavy sigh. He stayed like that for a moment before he looked into the camera again and kept going.  _“I thought about what I was going to say when I sat down in front of this camera. There are a lot of ways I could’ve gone with it… Right now, I’ve just got a question. Are you even sorry? When you think about how much pain this is causing my son, does that even bother you at all? You have no right to any answers here so I’m not going to explain where those scars came from. That’s not even important right now! The point is, clearly someone hurt him and you’re hurting him even more. That is not ok with me.”_

He wasn’t yelling but he was getting increasingly angry and his volume was rising considerably. It struck Peter that Tony said everything like he was speaking to a specific person. He figured it would be difficult to watch this video and try to tell yourself it was targeted at someone else. Even Peter felt like it was being directed at him a few times and had to remind himself that his dad was definitely not mad at him.

 _“Let me just remind you, again, that I am the person who’s supposed to be there to pick up the pieces when you try to tear him apart. Do me a favor and quit trying to do that, by the way.”_  And there was the yelling…

It wasn’t exactly sudden. After all, his voice had been getting steadily louder. Maybe it was just that it didn’t sound at all like he was trying  _not_  to shout. Tony Stark was angry and, clearly, he didn’t care who knew it.

_“I want you to know that I take that job very seriously. He’s my kid and I am always going to be there to look out for him and fix whatever I can. I’m telling you this so that you will know moving forward from this that anytime you come after him in any way or for any reason… you’ll have to deal with me too. And just like now, you’ll be dealing with a dad, not just Tony Stark or Iron Man. Peter’s dad. And I guarantee you that you’d rather go up against one of the other two options there.”_

By that point in the video, Peter was crying pretty freely.

Tony was crying then too. Just like his anger, he wasn’t trying to hide it. His tears weren’t the messy, sobbing sort of tears Peter had been crying all weekend. They were quiet and simple. Just tears. Just  _pain_.

When he spoke again, the anger had cooled down. It was still present but just not so loud anymore. Somehow, Tony managed to sound both determined and defeated at once. It was like he was disappointed but hopeful about the future. Peter figured that was exactly what it was.

_“I don’t know why I’m even talking to you. It might make it worse more than better. It’s not like you’re going to hear this and just… change. But maybe it can help bring a step in the right direction. If nothing else, I just hope it serves as some kind of proof that I love this kid. He’s mine now and I am not going to let you bully him if there is anything at all that I can say about it. Maybe we can all try something that should be common sense. Before you say anything think about you’d feel if someone said it to or about you or someone you love. Giving that some actual consideration should help to put an end to some of the negativity in the world.”_

The video ended with Tony in the exact same place he’d started at, still just looking straight through the camera and at anyone who watched the video. There were a few seconds of silence before the screen cut to black.

Peter closed his eyes and let out a shuddering breath, setting down his phone and swiping his fingertips over his eyes to get rid of the tears. There was a small part of him that was scared. What were people saying about this? Was it helping at all?

But it was. It occurred to Peter that he didn’t need to worry about that. Even if it didn’t change the things people had been saying that weekend, it helped Peter. The video; hearing Tony say all of that… it was like an affirmation of what he already knew.

He knew Tony cared about him. He knew he would protect him from anything. He knew he was angry about what had happened, but not at Peter. None of it was new information at all. But hearing it was always good…

Peter had a feeling he was going to be rewatching that video.

Once he’d gotten his breath back, he closed the video on his phone and went to his contacts instead, not having to scroll far to get to the one he wanted.

The phone had only just made it to Peter’s ear when the call was answered.

 _“Kid,”_  Tony said as a greeting.

“Dad,” was Peter’s response. The word came out sounding much more like a choked sob than Peter had wanted. Then there were more tears. He didn’t think they were bad though.

 _“What’s wrong? Did someone say something to you? Do you need me to come get you?”_  He sounded worried. Peter pictured him already standing up and reaching for his keys.

“No. No, I just - no, I don’t need you to get me.” Peter closed his eyes again and tipped his head back against the bookshelves.

 _“Ok…”_  He didn’t sound convinced.  _“Well, do you_ want _me to come to get you?”_

Peter laughed softly and shook his head a little as he answered. “No… I’m - I’m ok, I promise. Um… thanks. Uh, for what you did, I mean. It just - well, it was… that was nice, you know? Sort of, like,  _really_  unexpected but I really - I think I sort’ve needed to hear some of that. So… yeah, I’m really ok.”

 _“I’m really glad to hear that, kid. I’m so proud of you, you know that?”_  Peter swore he could hear the smile in Tony’s voice.  _“I know I haven’t been your dad for very long… but I was proud of you before that anyway. You know, I think if this had me at your age I would’ve just ditched school. I wouldn’t have even tried. There’s a lot about you that’s just really special and I want you to know that.”_

“Sure,” Peter mumbled, feeling his face turn red again. “Whatever you say.”

_“Well, don’t go letting it get to your head now, you got that?”_

There was another quiet laugh at that. “Sure thing. I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

There was a long sigh on the other end and then Tony spoke again, his voice soft.  _“I have this feeling you’re skipping class, huh? You better get going and let yourself get an education, yeah? I’ll be waiting right here when you get home and you can tell me all about your day.”_

“Yeah, ok…” Peter sighed too but smiled as he straightened up in the beanbag. “You’re right. Um… thanks again. For whatever it’s worth, I think you’re pretty great at the dad thing. I’m happy, anyway.”

 _“I’m happy too, kid,”_  Tony told him, chuckling softly.  _“I love you, Peter.”_

“Yeah. You too.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this one! I'm trying to decide what fic to recommend at the end of Monday's chapter and there are so many I'm trying to decide between... You may end up with a list. ;D


	36. Chapter Thirty-Six

The rest of the day practically flew by for Peter. It seemed almost like the rest of the school was a little nervous to talk to him. More specifically, like they thought that they _shouldn’t_ talk to him. He figured watching Tony’s video would give a person that feeling…

He was curious what the next day would be like. Once everyone had time to digest the video and see how the rest of the world was reacting to it, how would they act?

Personally, Peter wasn’t looking at anything on the internet until later. He just wanted to get to the end of the way without worrying about it.

Obviously, people would have things to say about it. As with anything, there were bound to be positives as well as negatives. For the time being, Peter was happy to just this little break from people trying to ask him questions. The most anyone really did was smile and sometimes wave a little when they saw him in the hall or class. Even that was mostly the usual people who were attempting to spark some kind of friendship with the new Stark.

“Hey, Peter,” Ned said almost hesitantly at the end of the day while Peter got his things out of his locker. “I was thinking… you kinda seem better than earlier today, right?”

Peter raised a skeptical eyebrow and shut the locker door. “I guess so? Why?”

“Well…” Ned started, following right beside Peter as he made his way to the door. “Mary Jane and I were thinking that since you were having such a hard time earlier it would maybe be good to give you some space for a while. So -”

“Wait, I forgot!” Peter stopped suddenly, grabbing Ned’s arm to stop him too. “You guys were supposed to come over and watch movies tonight! I’m so sorry, Ned. I completely forgot about it!”

“It’s fine,” Ned assured him, smiling kindly. “We’re not upset. She didn’t even think I should mention anything but I just thought maybe since you seem better we could pick another day this -”

“No, tonight’s still fine!”

“Quit interrupting me, please,” Ned deadpanned before splitting into a grin. “How about tomorrow night?”

Peter frowned for a moment, feeling guilty about having to change the day. But he knew he was supposed to stop doing that so he smiled and nodded instead. “Sure. That sounds great.”

“Tomorrow night for what?” Mary Jane asked, suddenly materializing behind them.

“Movie night,” Ned supplied cheerfully.

Mary Jane narrowed her eyes at him. “I thought we _weren’t_ going to talk to Peter about that. Remember, because we know he was already having a crappy day _and_ has a tendency to feel guilty for pretty much everything? Remember that?”

“It’s fine,” Peter told her. “Seriously, I’m not - I don’t feel guilty. Right now. Like, yeah, I _did_ for a minute there but I’m fine now, ok? Does tomorrow night work for you? I just have to let Tony know and I’m sure it’ll be fine as long as you can both make it.”

“Make what?” _And_ that was Harry.

“Why do you all do this to me?” Peter asked, turning to Harry. “Why do you all have to waltz up mid-conversation and completely skip the ‘hello’ part?”

Ned snickered and shook his head. “Like it even really surprises you.”

Peter glared a warning at his best friend. Ned at least had the decency to look guilty for a second.

“Anyway, what are we planning?” Harry asked curiously. “Is it another pizza night? Because I’m always down for pizza night. Oh, but do you think it would be cool if I asked Liz to come too? I don’t want to do that if you’re not all -”

“We’re actually… no. Movie night, not pizza night,” Ned explained, cutting Harry off.

“Movie night? We haven’t done one of those, have we?”

Peter looked away awkwardly, shoving a hand through his hair. He made eye contact with Mary Jane and grimaced. She just rolled her eyes and looked at Harry.

“The three of us do them a lot, actually,” she told us flatly. “Don’t take this the wrong way but, Harry, you’re not exactly invited. It’s because we do them at Peter’s house. Well, _tower_ ,” she explained hurriedly before he got a chance to ask why.

Harry frowned but nodded understandingly. “Because of… Mr. Iron Man?”

“Basically,” Peter chuckled, holding back a full on grin at the name.

“Well, I don’t _really_ understand why he hates me but… I mean, ok. That’s fair,” Harry offered with a small shrug. “But maybe sometimes you guys could just do movie nights at my place. That way -”

“No,” Peter cut him off firmly. He blushed as all three sets of eyes turned to look at him. “I’m… sorry, no. You can have Ned and Mary Jane over but I’m just not … I’m sorry.”

“Peter,” Mary Jane muttered, sounding like some kind of exasperated parent. “Stop saying ‘sorry’.”

Harry shrugged again, giving them another smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “That’s ok. I mean, parents, right? What are you gonna do? Anyway…” he sighed softly, tapping a hand awkwardly on the strap of his fancy laptop bag. “I guess I’m heading home now. I’ll see you guys tomorrow!”

“Harry,” Peter sighed as his friend walked down the steps in front of the school. He didn’t give any indication that he’d heard Peter. “You guys, I feel like a jerk.”

“Seriously, _stop_ ,” Mary Jane groaned, though she gave him a small smile. “Tomorrow night is fine. We’ll be there and we’ll have a great time. And hey, by the way? I’m glad you’re doing better. Tony really loves you… I guess everyone knows that now, right?”

“If they don’t after that video, they’re nuts,” Ned chuckled. “And I’m glad you’re better too. And I’m super excited for tomorrow night!”

Peter grinned and nodded at them. “Yeah, I’m… I’m happy I’m better too. I called Tony so… that helped. Are you guys walking home together?”

“Yep.” Ned nodded. “She’s going to help me out with English literature. I’m not doing too hot with that particular class,” he explained with a grimace.

“Geez, I should just go with you guys,” Peter laughed.

Mary Jane shoved Peter’s shoulder once they got past the gate. “Nope. Get home to your dad,” she said with a wink as she and Ned went the other direction. Ned gave Peter an enthusiastic wave as Mary Jane dragged him down the sidewalk.

-

“They’re still doing it,” Peter reported dejectedly, looking intently at the screen of his laptop. He heard a sigh behind him and looked over his shoulder at Tony, who was standing in the kitchen making sandwiches for dinner. “I haven’t been looking all day, I swear. Just right now.”

“Of course they’re still doing it,” Tony told him, his voice slightly strained. “They weren’t just going to magically stop because I had something to say about it. In fact, that has only been fueling it for some people. Peter, you were doing better. Do _not_ let them take that away from you. You can keep getting better.”

Peter nodded and turned back to the screen. “Yeah, I know… This one says you have no right to be upset about it because you’re famous so you knew what you were doing when you adopted me. Says you’re just trying to get more attention.”

“Like I’d have to try,” Tony snorted. He got a little more aggressive in the scraping of butter over his toasted bread. “Seriously, can you stop looking at that stuff?”

“Sorry,” Peter mumbled but didn’t make any moves to stop. “Some of them are saying you’re right. The kids at school seemed kinda nervous about talking to me after this… that won’t last, huh?”

“Uh, no. Probably not.”

Peter sighed and looked back over his shoulder again. “You sound annoyed.”

Tony’s eyes moved up to look into Peter’s. “Maybe I am. Why do you look at all that?”

“Because I’m a curious person?” Peter suggested half-heartedly. He closed the screen and turned around even more in the chair, crossing his arms over the top of it and resting his chin on them. “Sorry, Tony.”

“Why do you do that?” Tony asked curiously, setting down the knife he’d been using and tilting his head to the side. “Why am I ‘Dad’ sometimes and ‘Tony’ the other times?”

“I’m sorry,” Peter said again, his cheeks red.

“I don’t want you to be sorry. I’m not upset,” Tony assured the teenager. “I’m just wondering if you’re thinking about it at all or if it just happens like that.”

Peter shrugged, leaning his face even more in his arms so that only half of it was really visible. “I don’t know. I’m not thinking about it _that_ much…”

“But?” Tony prompted, going to back to the sandwich making.

“But I just feel like everything is changing really fast and sometimes it just feels… normal but other times, I think about it and it freaks me out. It hasn’t even been exactly two months yet.”

Tony ignored how embarrassed and slightly nervous Peter looked and nodded slowly, turning his focus to the cheese slices he was peeling apart. “That’s fair. I don’t mind what you want to call me, kid. I was just asking.”

Peter nodded and sat up straighter, turning back around to open his laptop again. “By the way, can Ned and Mary Jane come over to watch movies tomorrow? They were supposed to come tonight but then… things got in the way.”

“Sure, just remind me sometime tomorrow so I don’t forget. Here,” Tony said from where he was suddenly standing next to Peter’s chair. He held out a plate with a sandwich on it. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Peter said hurriedly, cheeks going red again as he reached to take the plate.

Tony pulled it back out of his reach. “Nope. What’s wrong? You grimaced. I saw it.”

“I just…” Peter sighed defeatedly. “Can you please just let me fix it?” He held his hand out expectantly and Tony gave him the plate with a somewhat suspicious expression on his face. “Thanks.”

Tony narrowed eyes as Peter grabbed another plate from the counter and set it on top of the sandwich. “What are you - Peter, _what?_ ”

“What?” Peter laughed, looking up at Tony as he squeezed the two plates together. “I want it to be smushed. I can’t eat a sandwich that tall.” Once he was satisfied, he discarded the second plate and picked up his now flattened sandwich, taking a bite happily.

“That’s weird,” Tony told him blandly, sitting down with his own sandwich. “You’re weird, you know that?”

“Yeah, so?” Peter grinned around his sandwich. “We all have our quirks. You cringe every time I hand you something.”

Tony gasped in mock offense, putting down his sandwich before he’d even taken a bite out of it. “Excuse me? You’ve noticed I don’t like that and you keep doing it?”

“Um, yeah,” he snickered, picking at the crust on the bread. “Because I’m not going to just _not_ hand you things because you’re weird about it.”

“Teenagers,” Tony muttered through a smirk. “So, what do you have to do for school this week? Anything interesting?”

Peter’s nose scrunched up as he thought about it, chewing slowly and staring forward. “Hmm. I mean, nothing interesting I can think of. Just normal stuff, I guess.”

“What do you say we have another driving lesson once you finish your homework for the night, yeah?” Tony suggested, smiling when Peter’s face lit up. The excitement was gone a moment later, however, and Tony’s smile disappeared. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, I just…” Peter shrugged and looked down at his plate, which was empty as his sandwich was in his hands instead. “I was thinking I’d go on patrol tonight.”

Tony hummed in a way that told Peter he wasn’t convinced. “I don’t see any reason not to do both, do you?”

“I haven’t been spending very much in the suit lately. I’ve been distracted, I guess. Didn’t go out at all this weekend.”

“That’s ok though, kid. You’re allowed to have a break,” Tony reasoned. “And you’re allowed to just go out for a while tonight and make time for something else too.”

“Yeah, ok, but what if someone sees us?”

And there it was.

Tony sighed and leaned back in his chair. “You know they’re going to keep talking with or without actual sightings, right? In fact, they may talk more if you disappear.”

Peter frowned, nodding half-heartedly. “I just… yeah.”

“I’m not making you go anywhere right now. I mean, if you just keep not doing things because you’re scared, don’t be surprised if you’re faced with an intervention. I’ll get your friends in on it too,” Tony warned with a small smile. “But for now, it’s up to you. I’m heading to my workshop and you have school to do because you’re not going anywhere, in or out of your spider suit, until that’s done. If you want to go driving, come let me know, ok?”

He waited for Peter to nod and offer a tiny smile in return before he took the rest of his food and left the table. Peter stayed where he was until he was finished eating and then went to his bedroom to study. He spent two hours pouring over his books before he decided he’d done as much as he could.

Unfortunately for Peter, worrying tended to take up most of his focus.

Tony looked up as soon as Peter showed up at the door. He waited for the teenager to say something, watching him expectantly.

“Um… how about tomorrow?” Peter suggested, nodding slightly as he asked. His expression was hopeful but maybe tinged with guilt. He thought he was letting Tony down. “Ok?”

“Completely ok,” Tony assured him, tone casual and light. He flashed a smile. “You going out?”

Peter didn’t say anything. Instead, he just continued to stand where he was and tugged at his sleeves.

“You can. Just be back by eleven, deal? It’s a school night so I want you in bed before eleven-thirty.”

“What?” Peter gaped at him. “Tony, that’s only a couple hours.”

“Yeah, and?” Tony smirked at him. “Like I said, it’s a school night. I don’t think you get enough sleep.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with how late I go to bed,” Peter argued dryly. “Midnight?”

“Uh, _no_ ,” Tony replied, still smirking. “Eleven-forty, final offer. You have to be back in the tower at least ten minutes before then, got it? You want more time, you finish your school earlier. That’s the deal.”

Peter sighed but nodded anyway. He considered arguing it some more but with his luck Tony would just say he couldn’t go out that night at all. He’d try and negotiate more later on…

-

_Maybe I really do need to go out earlier again…_

There wasn’t much going on. It was New York so it wasn’t as if there was a really a time with absolutely zero activity… On the one hand, the things Spider-Man dealt with later at night were a little more serious. Most people waited to break in places until they were closed up, for example. But on the other hand, things still happened during the day and he had hardly helped with that since moving in with Tony.

When he’d lived with May, it had been easy to just be Spider-Man after school and until  she got home from work. That just hadn’t been much a thing once he’d moved to the tower. He figured he could talk to Tony about it. Sure, he wouldn’t be ok with him staying out as long as he usually had before. But maybe he’d agree to an hour or two after school if Peter was keeping up with his homework. Then he could go home and go out again before bed.

Personally, Peter thought was a great plan. It would just depend on if Tony agreed with him on that one or not… Worth a shot anyway, he figured.

It was nearing eleven and Peter had just thwarted a man in his attempt to steal a television. He’d left him webbed to the now broken window and swung away from the scene. The store’s alarm had gone off so he knew the police would be on their way.

Before that, there had been a few muggers to stop and someone on a stolen motorbike. It had been fairly uneventful as a whole.

He still had a little time though, so Peter wasn’t going to head home yet. Instead, he sat on the edge of the roof of an apartment building and waited. If he heard anything, he’d go take care of it before going back to the tower.

There was a slight scuffing sound behind him and Peter suddenly got the unsettling feeling that there was someone behind him. He whirled around, eyes wide under the mask.

“ _Daredevil?_ ” He gasped in a mixture of shock and relief. “What are you doing here?”

“Just thought I’d come find you while you’re out,” the man said gruffly, walking closer to Spider-Man in long, confident strides. He sat beside him on the ledge, swinging his legs over to match Peter’s position. He didn’t kick his feet like Spider-Man had been doing though… “You’ve been less present lately, mm?”

“I mean, yeah, I - I guess so,” Peter agreed dejectedly. He watched Daredevil slightly suspiciously, though the other hero just looked straight ahead. “Why did you want to find me?”

“Well, your, uh, _friend_ ,” he smirked. “Wanted me to let you two know if I heard anything else, remember?”

Peter’s face burned lightly at the memory of the last time they’d met… it hadn’t been his best moment. “And did you?”

“No, I only wanted you to know I remembered agreeing to tell you if I ever did,” he replied automatically, his tone flat. “Yes, I heard something. I’ve been keeping an ear out since that night. Just in case.”

“And?” Peter prompted impatiently.

Daredevil shrugged a little. “Well, it’s not as much as I would’ve liked. But I know that guy is connected to Oscorp, though I’m sure you’re already aware of that. I think he’s the product of some kind of experiment, though I can’t prove that. I also know he’s planning something soon. I don’t know what but I’m looking to it.” There was a pause as he got back to his feet, preparing to leave the rooftop entirely. “I might’ve waited until I knew more to contact you but I noticed you were out so… well, and there was one other thing I wanted to tell you.”

“Ok…” Peter stayed seated but twisted around to look at the man. “What is it?”

“We’ve all got scars. You’re Spider-Man. Don’t let it get you down, all right?”

And then he was gone…

Peter bit his lip under his mask and looked down at his feet. He would’ve liked to pretend Daredevil didn’t know anything but… well, that would be a little difficult after that conversation. But he had more to think about than that. After checking the time, he decided it was probably time to head back anyway.

He’d have to talk to Tony and couldn’t very well do that while he was still out and he certainly couldn’t do it if he got back late...Getting Tony in a bad mood wasn’t going to make him fun to talk to or anything.

He ended up getting back just as he was supposed to and Tony let him stay up only long enough to recount his conversation with The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. Peter wanted to stay up and discuss what might be about to happen and maybe try and do some digging into more of Oscorp’s files. Instead, Tony told Peter to get to bed. Since Tony would be staying up later, he said he’s see what he could find out and they’d talk more in the morning.

Even though Peter got in his bed a full five minutes before Tony had told him he had to be, he didn’t get much sleep that night. After waking up from a nightmare, he slipped into Tony’s unoccupied bedroom and stole a t-shirt.

Tony was busy in the workshop and didn’t even notice that Peter had come in until he saw him curled up on an extra desk chair, just starting to fall asleep again. After toying with the idea of moving Peter back to his bed, Tony eventually decided to leave him there at least until he was going to go to bed himself. _Then_ he’d move Peter.

After settling on that option, he found himself thinking not for the first time about how much his life had changed. Even the fact that he was contemplating the best course of action after noticing his kid sleeping in a desk chair after being told to go to bed was pretty unexpected based on his life prior to that year.

Just the same as every other time he thought about, Tony concluded that it was the best kind of change there could possibly be.

Although he wouldn’t complain about a change where Peter didn’t get nightmares anymore… that would be a pretty welcome change too.

-

Tony was just getting some muffins out of the oven when Peter came out of his room in the morning. Even after waking up the first time and then again when Tony made him go back to his room after a couple hours, peter had gotten more sleep that Tony had. He still managed to look noticeably more tired though…

_Teenagers._

“Morning, kiddo. Ready for school?”

“Yeah,” Peter said through a nod, pushing his shower damp hair off his forehead. “What did you find out last night? Anything useful?”

“Not really,” Tony answered with a shrug. “I’ll have to see if I can find Daredevil tonight and talk to him a little more about all this; see if he can give me any more details.”

Peter nodded and reached past Tony to grab a muffin. “Can I go with you?”

“Kid,” Tony sighed patiently. “You’re terribly needy. And no, probably not. We’re supposed to have another driving lesson today _and_ Ned and Mary Jane are coming over to watch movies, remember?”

“Crap, _no_ , I completely forgot!”

Tony gave a small smirk and chose a muffin of his own. “Mmhm. Well, you should probably just focus on that stuff tonight. Be a kid?” He suggested.

“Yeah, but I’m still gonna want to go on patrol after that and -”

“We’ll talk more later,” Tony interrupted him, his tone patient and not unkind at all. “Still got that list?”

“Yeah,” Peter told him, accepting the subject change entirely. “It’s in my pocket. I’ll probably need it. I feel like today is going to be just as weird and uncomfortable… but in a different way, maybe?”

Tony chuckled and nodded briefly. “Probably. Just focus on the list, your classes, and your friends. Sound like a plan?”

“Absolutely,” Peter said with a grin. He shoved the rest of his muffin in his mouth and tossed the wrapper a few feet away and straight into the trash can, ignoring Tony’s offended cry of ‘but crumbs’, as he snatched up his backpack from the floor and left for school.

“Love you,” Tony called as the door closed behind his kid. He didn’t hear a response but that was fairly normal. There were a few possible reasons Peter might not want to say it back and even though Tony hadn’t asked him about it and therefore didn’t know the actual reason… he was all right with it.

Peter let him know he felt the same in his own way. Besides, he was a sixteen year old boy and exactly how many of them were going to say something like that? And especially so casually?

So Tony didn’t mind.

He hoped things wouldn’t be too bad at school that day. Even though he didn’t want Peter to keep looking at the news when it was about them, Tony was guilty of the same thing. Normally, he chose not to give it much thought. If anything, it was funny. But he wanted to be aware of what people were saying about Peter.

For the most part, it was taking a more positive turn.

There was plenty of support for Tony’s video and subsequently for Peter. Most of the people who were being negative about it were getting shut down pretty fast by the others. There were still a number of people claiming that the Starks had no right to be upset by any of this since they’d chosen to live a life in the spotlight.

Tony would argue that he hadn’t exactly chosen that.

His concern was what would happen after the support fizzled out. Sure, there would still be some people who continued to share the video or even just reference it but it was just the way the internet worked. They could get all riled up about something and care so much but give it a week or have something else pop up and suddenly people aren’t so concerned about it.

If people were refraining from saying anything due to Tony fighting back and gaining support, would they still be worried about the consequences of saying something after it had died down a little or would they stop caring too? Tony wasn’t sure but he couldn’t help worrying about it a little. And kids were fast. He knew they’d either be right back at it when Peter got to school or they’d have decided they didn’t care anymore.

Just in case, Tony kept his phone in his pocket all day. He wanted to be able to answer as soon as Peter said anything. He sent a few texts throughout the day, trying to make sure he knew how Peter was holding up.

None of Peter’s answers really helped very much. He said he was fine, which Tony was choosing to believe because why would Peter lie about it? But he wasn’t telling Tony any of what was happening, other than that Ned had gotten Firefly on a really great sale and they were going to watch it that evening.

So when his phone rang near the end of school, Tony wasn’t sure if he should be worried or not.

 _“I need you to come get me,”_ Peter said before Tony even had a chance to say a quick ‘hello’.

Tony’s eyebrows pinched together at that. “Um, ok. Why? School’s out in a few minutes.” He started towards the elevator, grabbing a set of keys on his way.

 _“I know,”_ Peter said simply. _“And you’ll be here right when we’re let out so it’ll work out great.”_

“Peter, what is going on?” Tony sighed, leaning against the back of the elevator as he rode it down. Any worry he’d been feeling was pretty much gone at that point. “Do you just want a ride or what?”

_“Uh, yes? I don’t know, it started raining and I don’t feel like walking home in the rain.”_

“You don’t feel like it?” Tony clarified just as the doors slid open. “Is this a water thing or…?”

 _“Not really,”_ he told him nonchalantly.

Tony hadn’t really thought so anyway… Peter didn’t sound nearly anxious enough for that.

“Just don’t feel like it then?” Tony chuckled. He got to the car his keys were for and unlocked it, pulling the door open and sliding in. “Well, I’m on my way then. Really, the things I do for you…” He was fairly certain Peter could hear the smirk in his words.

 _“Yeah, yeah, I’m needy and you’re the best,”_ Peter laughed. _“Ok, I’ve got to get back in class. I got the bathroom pass so I could step out and call you. They’ll get suspicious if I don’t come back.”_

Tony snorted at the way Peter said it; like he was being such a rebel and only Tony could know about it. It was pretty funny when Tony considered the number of times Peter had actually skipped class - or just _school_ \- altogether. “You do that.”

-

It was raining pretty hard when Tony pulled up to the back of the pick-up line at Peter’s school. There were a lot of cars there and since he was getting there right as school was let out he wasn’t exactly near the front of the line.

Happy had been sent to pick Peter up a few times before and had never mentioned the line being like this. It probably had to do with the rain, just like in Tony’s case.

Tony could see Peter a while before he was actually able to pull up in front of him. He knew the kid had seen him too but he wasn’t going to move from the cover he’d gotten. Apparently, he was content to just wait there and minimize the amount of time he’d spend walking in the rain.

“Hey, Tony,” Peter greeted as he got into the car as soon as it was close enough for him to dart out from under his cover and get right in. He didn’t bother taking off his backpack first, since it would mean more time standing outside.

Tony didn’t try to mask his chuckle as he watched Peter wrestle the straps off his body while seated, trying not to hit his head on the car.

“Thanks for picking me up,” Peter sighed with a smile once he could finally toss the bag into the backseat and fasten his seatbelt. “I wasn’t expecting so much rain and my jackets not so good for this weather. It thought it would only be a little so I just grabbed whatever was closest.”

“No problem,” Tony replied as they pulled out of the parking lot.

“I was planning to ask if we could give Ned a ride home too but he went with Harry.”

“What? Why?” Tony questioned incredulously, raising an eyebrow at Peter. “I thought Ned loved me. What is this?”

Peter gave him a half-hearted grin. “Yeah, well, I guess he and MJ are going to study some more before they come over. And, well - uh, she was going with Harry so… yeah.”

“Well…” Tony sighed, tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel. “How much time do we have before they come over? We can do something fun and get your mind off it.”

“We were going to go for another driving lesson, remember?” Peter reminded him, then hummed thoughtfully. “Well.. I mean, it’s raining so I don’t know if you want -”

“A short one is fine,” Tony cut him off. “Let’s just do that before we go home, ok? I’ll pull over somewhere and we’ll switch.”

Peter shrugged and nodded a little. “Ok, I guess.”

They got to a light and Peter was suddenly pulling out his phone and leaning forward to take a picture of something.

Tony furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at the screen on Peter’s phone curiously. “Are you taking a picture of the traffic light?”

“Yeah,” Peter answered almost sheepishly, though he didn’t move or even look away as he continued trying to get the picture just right. “It make the drops on the windshield look really cool.”

Tony cocked his head to the side and took another look. “Huh. Yeah, it kinda does. What are you going to do with the picture?”

“Probably nothing,” Peter said, shrugging as he settled back into his seat again once the light had changed. He looked through the pictures he’d just taken, trying to pick the best one to save. “I don’t really do anything with my pictures. I just look through them sometimes. Hey, by the way?” He slipped his phone back into his pocket and turned his head to look at Tony. “Thanks again for the new phone. It’s got a way better camera, which is so cool. ‘Cause, like, sometimes I see something and I know how good of a picture it _could_ be if I just had a better camera on my phone. And all the cracks made it hard to tell if it was any good until I could get home and look at it on my laptop instead, you know?”

“I didn’t even know you liked to take pictures,” Tony remarked, shooting Peter a fond smile. He liked the way Peter was lighting up as he talked about it. “You’ll have to show me sometime.”

“Yeah, totally,” Peter gushed. “I have some awesome pictures that I can’t exactly show most people. I mean, since I took them from places I wouldn’t be able to climb to if I weren’t Spider-Man so… yeah.”

Tony nodded understandingly. He spotted a parking lot that was empty save far one car on the side and decided it would be a great place to practice parking from different angles, which was about the only thing he was going to let Peter do in the rain. It was getting better but driving lessons were still pretty stressful to Tony and he didn’t want to think about letting Peter try to manage actual traffic on an open rain while it was raining.

Once he’d finished going through his thought process on the matter with Peter and had explained what he wanted to focus on, he looked at him and waited for a response.

Peter nodded but he seemed to be focused on something else. Tony was about to ask what it was when Peter looked at him questioningly and asked, “Why’d you stop speaking English?”

Tony stared at Peter in pure confusion for a few moments, processing the question, before he answered. “Sorry, _what_? I didn’t.”

“No, before, I mean,” Peter told him like it cleared that right up.

“Before…?”

Peter’s lips twitched as he held back an amused grin. “Remember the thing on the ferry? I mean then, when you got all mad and stuff. You, like, just stopped speaking English and it was really weird. Like, everyone was confused about it. It wasn’t just me.”

There was a beat and then Tony nodded slowly. “Uh-huh. How did you get to that? We were talking about parking the car.”

“Yeah, but I just thought about it,” Peter said, actually grinning then. “Usually when I think about it you’re mad or something so it seems like a bad time. You weren’t mad so I thought I’d ask!”

Tony shook his head, breathing a laugh. “All right then. You… well, you’re never boring, are you? Ok... “ He sighed slightly, leaning back into his seat. “I don’t know, Peter. I just got emotional and sometimes when I’m angry or - or scared, I just kinda slip into it. After I got back from Afghanistan I just kinda started learning it. I wasn’t thinking that much about it… It was just something I did.”

Peter nodded contemplatively and rested his chin on his fist. “Ok… so when you’re muttering and I have no idea what you’re saying… that’s what that is, right?” He waited for Tony’s affirmative nod. “Right. So… can I learn too? So I’ll know what you’re saying?”

At first, Peter was worried Tony was upset that he’d asked. He just sort of looked at him with a slight frown and lowered eyebrows, head tilted to the side. Then he split into a small smile.

“You actually want to?” Tony asked curiously.

“Yeah,” Peter answered, nodded earnestly. “I mean, I’ve pretty much got Spanish down so I think I can take on another language.”

Tony snorted. “You know they’re really not the same thing, right? I don’t know how much Spanish is going to help you.”

“Well yeah, I just mean - Ok, whatever. I just meant that’s not giving me much trouble at this point so I have more time that I can use to learn another language if I want to.”

“If you really want to, sure. But right now,” Tony started, unbuckling his seatbelt and reaching for the door. “We’re doing driving lessons. One thing at a time, kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as this is a one chapter week, I'm leaving you with some recommendations!
> 
> First: Twelve Days of Peter Parker by grilledcheesing. I absolutely adore it. Seriously, chapter two is THE cutest! 
> 
> Second: Congratulations, It's A Boy by capiocapi. This is a story that covers Civil War, Homecoming, and then beyond that point in an AU where Peter is Tony's biological son and Tony knows that but Peter doesn't. It's very good and written quite well!
> 
> Third: What They Saw by yesyeshyes. This one is a collection of one-shots where various other characters see how much Tony and Peter mean to each other. It's so sweet!
> 
> All of these stories are ongoing.


	37. Chapter Thirty-Seven

Before heading back home after school the next day, Peter sat on the front steps and calculated how much time he’d need to finish all his school work, how long he’d be home alone until Tony got back from his meetings, and finally how much time he could away with using for patrol.

Once he’d settled on roughly two hours and still having time to do all his school before Tony came home, he hurried off to buy himself a sandwich from Delmar’s and then he was on his way.

It was a pretty good patrol if you asked Peter. There wasn’t much sitting around and doing nothing but at the same time he wasn’t exactly risking his life at every turn so Tony wouldn’t be too stressed about it.

Also, a kid did a drawing of Spider-Man and Iron Man together and gave it to him, so that was really cool. Peter was totally pinning that to the corkboard above his desk.

Even after he stayed out about a half hour longer than he’d planned to, he got his school finished in enough time that he still had time to sit on the couch and watch cartoons while he waited for his dad. Tony was missing dinner so he made himself some macaroni and cheese and got a chance to just… breathe.

He also had time to think on something he’d been halfway avoiding thinking about at all.

May.

Peter wasn’t really sure how he was supposed to feel about or towards her… he and Tony hadn’t talked about it at all. He wondered if he was still supposed to think of her or not.

Really, he didn’t think Tony would be mad at him for that. Of course not. But he did worry that he’d take it the wrong way. What if Tony felt like Peter wasn’t happy? Like he was regretting some part of all this? Like he wanted to go back to May?

Of course, he didn’t feel that way at all. Still, what if Tony _thought_ he did? That would be awful.

So Peter just wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be thinking…

He was still contemplating it when Tony got home. The tv was still playing cartoons but Peter wasn’t watching anymore. He had his laptop open on his knees but he wasn’t really looking at that either.

The deeply contemplative look on his face morphed into one of surprise when he looked up and saw Tony in the doorway.

“Hey there, kid,” Tony greeted. Peter would almost call his tone suspicious. “What have you been up to?”

“Um… I went on patrol for a little while. Got all my school done for the day so I just…” He gestured to the tv and shrugged. “Cartoons. But, uh… I want to ask you something.”

Tony gave him a calculating look but nodded and came to sit across from him, switching off the tv that had clearly been somewhat forgotten anyway. “Anything.”

“Cool,” Peter sighed, pursing his lips as his closed his laptop and slid it away, pulling his legs closer. “I… I wasn’t actually, like - uh, _planning_ to ask you about it right now but I, uh, just thought… Ok, I’ll just say it. It’s been awhile since I really saw May and I haven’t talked with her, like, at all since I came here.”

Tony’s face remained neutral. “That’s not really a question.”

“Right… yeah, it’s not,” Peter acknowledged. “So, if she wanted to… would you mind if I went to see her? Maybe for tea or something. She likes tea. I just - I just feel like I should see her, you know? So, um, I wrote this whole email asking if she would maybe want to… do that? And I guess I just want to make sure you’re not…” He trailed off and shrugged again.

“What? Mad?” Tony questioned him, still not giving much reaction for Peter to go on.

“I don’t know. Something.”

“Well,” Tony started carefully. “I don’t necessarily mind you wanting to do that but I wish you’d said something before you sent her an email.”

“I didn’t send it!” Peter told him, his words rushed and eyes wide. “That’s - that’s what I was asking about. I just wrote it but I didn’t want to send it without talking to you first.”

Tony looked a little surprised but smiled. “I appreciate that… Do you mind telling me what you want to talk to her about exactly? Just - I don’t know, tell me what you’re thinking. Why do you want to do this?”

Peter shrugged yet again. “I guess it’s just… I mean, she’s my aunt. It’s not that I think I owe her something exactly but… she pretty much raised me. With Ben too and he… he wouldn’t want us to never talk again. If she doesn’t want to see me, it’s ok. I won’t mind. But I at least want to try, you know? I’m really happy here and I like being a Stark now, which is still a little weird when I think about it, but I don’t want to forget about being a Parker. Is that… ok?”

“Peter, _yes_ , that’s ok,” Tony assured him, leaning forward slightly and looking Peter in the eye. “I don’t have a problem with that. You can email her if you want. I’m going to believe you when you tell me you don’t think you owe her something and that you won’t be upset if she says no. I think that’s great and I probably wouldn’t be ok with this otherwise.”

“So… I just want to make sure you don’t feel… hurt or anything,” Peter told him hesitantly, his face scrunching up a little. “Because if you do then I don’t want to see her.”

Tony smiled fondly at Peter and raised an eyebrow. “I’m not hurt, kid. But it’s nice that you’re concerned about that.” There was a pause. “You’re right. She’s still your aunt. If you want to stay connected to her and she’s willing to talk with you... that’s not wrong. And it doesn’t bother me, I promise. So go ahead and send your email if you want to. But don’t do it because you think you should. Only do it if you really _want_ to, promise?”

“Promise,” Peter agreed with a relieved and grateful smile. “I guess I’ll wait and send it before bed if I still feel like I want to by then, ok?”

-

**From: Peter Stark**

**To: May Parker**

**Hey. It’s Peter. You know that though… I guess it’s been awhile since we talked and I feel like we can both take some of the blame for that, right? I was trying to give you space at first because I figured things would go back to normal eventually. Obviously they didn’t.**

**Still, I had just as much opportunity to do something like this earlier. You didn’t either so I’m trying not to beat myself about it too much. I guess that’s something I do… I know you know that because you’re one of the people who’s told me to stop my whole life. Basically everyone who knows me tells me that.**

**Anyway… I’m rambling a little. Getting off track, I guess… I don’t really know what “on track” is supposed to look like though. I didn’t really plan any of this out. I guess I could delete it and start over… I won’t though. I’ll just keep going. It’s more honest that way, I guess.**

**So, I guess I just want to know if you want to talk to me yet. My name is different now and I sort of have a new family but that doesn’t have to mean that we aren’t family too, right? I get it if you just want to move on. I’m not expecting anything from you. But I’d like to try to start again with you if you want to as well.**

**Obviously we can’t change anything that happened and there’s a lot that I don’t want to change. But just because it can’t be what it was, why can’t it be something else?**

**Just email me back if you want to, I guess. We could get breakfast or something if you feel like it. Maybe before school sometime. I could leave early and meet you somewhere. I don’t know… I don’t really have a plan or anything. But yeah…**

-

“She hasn’t emailed me back,” Peter told Tony conversationally during dinner the next evening. Tony had tried to make some kind of pasta dish and had managed to burn the top while the middle was actually cold. They’d gotten take-out instead. “I don’t know if she ever will.”

“Well…” Tony started carefully. “It’s only been a day. Not even a whole twenty-four hours yet. Don’t worry about it, ok?”

“I’m not worried. I just don’t think she’s going to email me,” he replied matter-of-factly. “May is the kind of person who likes to take care of things like that immediately. She doesn’t wait hours to text someone back and she always wants her email to all up to date and stuff. So she responds to everything as soon as she sees it or deletes whatever she doesn’t care about. And she checks stuff like that a lot so she must’ve seen it.”

Tony set his fork down and focused on Peter instead on his food. “But, you’re _not_ worrying about it, correct?”

“I’m really not,” Peter insisted. “I’m just thinking. Really, I don’t mind if she doesn’t email me back. It’s ok. Honestly.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Tony sighed, shrugging his shoulders and going back to eating again. “I just don’t want you getting hurt again, that’s all.”

“Thanks,” he smiled. “I’ll be ok though. Hey, by the way…”

Tony narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “I don’t like the way you started that… Should I be concerned?”

“No,” Peter told him with an amused smirk. “I was just thinking. I feel like I should probably get a job.”

“What? Why?” Tony asked incredulously, furrowing his eyebrows. “You’re sixteen.”

“Yeah… but I just think I need a job so I can start saving for a car for after I get my license.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed even more, though it was more of a baffled squint then. “What for? I have a whole garage full… actually, yeah, you’re right. You do need to buy a car.”

Peter fought an amused grin and ate some more of his food. “So… that means I can look for a job?”

“Well… yeah, I guess. We can talk more about it later and I’ll help you look for something, ok?” Tony suggested, standing up to throw out his now empty cardboard take-out box. “Anything interesting happen at school today?”

“Yes, “Peter said through a short laugh. “I totally forgot to tell you…”

“Ok, so what is it?” Tony prodded with an amused smile when Peter didn’t immediately answer.

“All right, now I don’t know who started it,” Peter started. “But people kept asking me if I’m going to have a party. That’s the last thing I ever expected anyone to ask me…”

Tony came back over to sit down again, raising an eyebrow at Peter. “Really? You expected ‘did Tony Stark adopt you?’ more than that?”

“Ok, like other than that stuff,” Peter conceded with a roll of his eyes. “But, seriously, Dad, everyone was asking me. ‘Cause Halloween is next week so people are having Halloween parties and stuff and Harry’s having one so everyone wants to go and they can since he invited the whole school. But now they want to know if I’m having one too and I think if I did they’d probably go to mine instead, which is so weird to think about because it’s _me_. But it’s not weird when you think about _why_ , which is obviously you. But then that _is_ weird to think about when you think about it even _more_ because even I’m still not completely over the fact that I even know you, like, when I _really_ think about it, you know what I mean? So the whole thing is actually super weird but it also makes sense, which is weird on its own.”

“I’ll pretend that all made sense to me,” Tony commented with a smirk. “So, do you want to have a party?”

“No,” Peter scoffed. “Of course not. I don’t even know that many people and I don’t want to have a party with people I don’t know. Ned and I were thinking about watching movies and eating candy though…” He said it like a question.

“You can do that,” Tony told him. “Just as long as you don’t give yourself nightmares,” he added with a wink.

“Like I have to give them to myself. Besides, I think nightmares about, like, zombies would be a nice alternative,” Peter said in a tone far too light for Tony’s liking, given the topic.

Tony sighed heavily and got up from the table again, grabbing the emptied containers from in front of Peter and going to dispose of them. “Let’s go with no nightmares, ok? Getting late, kid. If you’re going to patrol tonight you’d better get on it. You know your curfew already.”

“Yeah, about that,” Peter began getting up to trail behind his dad. “Is that, like, permanent or do you think we could maybe change it at some point?”

“You want me to change it?” Tony asked good naturedly, tossing a friendly smile over his shoulder. “Yeah, we can change it. How does _ten_ -thirty sound to you?”

Peter gawked, eyes widening. “Nah, it’s all good. No need to change it.”

Tony chuckled as Peter rushed off to his room to get into his suit.

-

“Kid, get out here,” Tony called the next day as he passed Peter’s door, rapping his knuckles against it but not stopped. “I’ve got something for you.”

“Did you fix my webshooters?” Peter called back from his desk where he’d been working on his homework since getting home nearly an hour earlier.

When he’d been out the night before, one of his webshooters had broken accidentally and he’d had to get home on only one. Tony had given him quite the talking to about that one, saying that the next time something like that happened he was to wait where he was and call his dad to come and pick him up. The idea of Peter swinging around between skyscrapers with only one webshooter working wasn’t something Tony liked to think about.

Since it had been just past Peter’s new bedtime anyway, Tony had taken both webshooters and promised to fix them for Peter. He had spares anyway, which he took to school in the morning in case he needed them. Besides, Tony had told him, there were some things he’d been wanting to fiddle with anyway.

Peter set down his pencil and slid his desk chair back, jumping up to his feet and swinging the door open. He hadn’t heard an answer and figured he should just follow his dad out to the kitchen.

Tony was standing with his back to the counter, facing the doorway as he waited patiently. He offered a little wave when Peter came in.

“They weren’t that hard to fix, right? I didn’t think they were too badly… damaged. What is that?”

“What, you’ve never seen a camera?” Tony replied with a pleased smirk, holding the object up by his shoulder.

“Well, no - I - I mean, I _have_ but, like - wait, _what?_ ” Peter spluttered through a confused half grin. “I thought you were giving me back my webshooters…”

Tony shrugged, reaching into his pocket with his free hand, which had previously been crossed casually across his middle. “Sure, you can have those too.” He pulled the sleek objects out and tossed them at Peter, who caught them effortlessly. “Want this too?”

“Don’t throw it,” Peter told him quickly, his brown eyes widening.

“I would never.” Tony grinned and walked closer to Peter, who wasn’t showing any signs of plans to move any time soon. He held the camera out to him. “I thought you might like one. Would’ve gotten you one sooner but I didn’t know you liked taking pictures so much until recently. I went out today and tried to pick the best one.” His eyebrows furrowed when Peter didn’t respond. “We can exchange it, you know. I don’t know that much about cameras so if it’s the wrong kind -”

“No,” Peter cut him off, eyes snapping up to meet Tony’s. “It’s amazing! Can I…” He held his hands out hesitantly and Tony grinned, setting the camera in Peter’s palms and waiting until the kid’s fingers had curled around it to let go. “Wow,” Peter breathed.

“That means it’s ok, right?”

Peter looked up at him again, grinning widely as he threw his arms around him, still clutching the camera in one hand. “Thank you so much!”

“Glad you like it,” Tony chuckled, hugging his kid back. “I’m looking forward to seeing what kinds of pictures you take with that thing.”

Tony smiled as he watched Peter go sit on the couch and excitedly explore and examine every part of the new camera. Apparently, he hadn’t owned a camera few a few years after the one he’d gotten as a Christmas present broke. Even then, it hadn’t been nearly as good as the one Tony had gotten for him, which was understandable. The issue of money hadn’t really been a factor in picking a camera for Tony while it definitely had been for Ben and May.

After leaving Peter to gush over the camera, Tony went around the counter to start on dinner. He was completely focused on the cookbook he was reading when a shuttering sound made him look up in surprise. Just as he’d suspected when he heard it, Peter had the camera pointed right at him and had a huge grin on his face.

“Really?” Tony raised an eyebrow at the teenager, who only grinned even wider.

“What? It was a good shot,” was all he said before flinging himself over the back of the couch and somehow landing solidly on his feet. He ignored Tony’s attempted protest and went to the window to take pictures of the skyline.

He didn’t really stop taking pictures for the rest of the evening.

Later that night, just before Peter went to bed, his picture of Tony was online and therefore being spread around like crazy. It was a good picture, even if Tony thought it was a little pointless. All he was doing as reading a book and not even making a funny face so he hardly saw the point in photographing it. But Peter liked it and had apparently deemed it worthy of being shared with the world.

Tony wasn’t exactly surprised when Peter was still walking around with his new camera practically glued to his hands the next morning but he hadn’t exactly been expecting that to extend straight through the weekend. He’d even brought it to school with him for the remainder of the week and came home each day with pictures to show Tony.

That had also led to a new rule as far as scheduling. Peter had to put each picture on his laptop and go through them all to decide what was worth saving and what hadn’t turned out very well. It was fairly time consuming and while Tony hadn’t minded too much those couple of days he wasn’t so sure it was going to change after the weekend. He’d chalked it up to the newness of the camera but by Sunday evening he was fairly certain this was just the way it was going to be now.

So Peter was no longer allowed to go through or edit his pictures for more than a half hour before getting his homework finished.

He hadn’t minded that so much but he’d given an emphatic argument when Tony suggested leaving the camera home on Monday. According to Peter, it was exactly like keeping his webshooters with him at all times. What if something happened the one time he left without them?

Tony had argued that missing a photo opportunity was not at all likely to result in any kind of damage. Still, Peter said that wasn’t a compelling reason to leave the camera home and was going to take it anyway.

It wasn’t that Tony minded… Actually, it gave him a nice warm feeling inside seeing how happy Peter was taking pictures. It gave him something else to focus on too, which he meant he came home from school excited to show Tony a great picture he’d gotten of Mary Jane reading Jane Eyre during Math rather than coming home with a story about how self conscious he’d felt when he noticed some kids hoping to see his arm when he took of his jacket.

So Tony didn’t mind the camera or the pictures. And it didn’t hurt that it made him feel like he’d done something right since he’d gone out and bought it completely unprompted. Peter hadn’t even said anything about feeling bad about it and Tony was hoping he hadn’t been thinking it either.

But still, none of that meant Tony _didn’t_ think it was weird when Peter took nearly forty pictures of the chocolate raspberry muffins they had for breakfast.

-

After school on Monday and as soon as Peter had gotten through his schoolwork, they were supposed to go have dinner with the Avengers at the compound. That and Tony had been informed that he’d missed too many meetings lately and they were having one that evening to kill two birds with one stone.

Peter was ecstatic when Tony said he’d let him drive once they got a little ways out. He hadn’t gotten to practice driving around there yet and it would probably be the longest he’d driven other than in circles around parking lots.

They were both beyond happy that Tony could breathe just fine the entire way to the compound. In fact, they even managed to have a relaxed conversation for nearly twenty minutes before Tony went back to reminding Peter all about basic driving safety.

“Hey, look, it’s Wanda!” Peter grinned as they pulled up in front of the building. She was sitting with a cup of tea and a book at a table near the front entrance.

“Focus on parking, please,” Tony told him sharply, sitting up a little straighter.

“Tony, I’m barely moving,” Peter laughed as he stopped the car. “It wasn’t like I was going to hit something if I looked away for a second.” As soon as he was unbuckled and had taken out the keys and handed them to Tony, he stretched his arm back and grabbed his camera off the back seat. “Don’t get out yet.”

Tony sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt, watching Peter focus his camera. “What are you doing?”

“Taking a picture of Wanda. I don’t want you to slam the door and startle her.”

His dad chuckled and shook his head but settled back in his seat and waited patiently until Peter decided he’d gotten the right shot and all but launched himself from the car to run over to Wanda and show her the camera. Her face lit up when she looked up and saw him making a visible effort not to actually bounce with excitement.

Tony was pretty sure sure he wasn’t ever going to get tired of seeing Peter happy.

After letting Peter know where he was going, Tony went into the compound on his own and left the two youngest heroes on their own outside. He wasn’t entirely sure what it was that made Wanda and Peter so close but they were always just so happy to be around each other. If he had to guess, he’d say it was the utter lack of expectation. Neither of them felt like they had to be anything specific around each other. They were just comfortable in each other’s company and Tony didn’t think Wanda smiled so easily around most other people.

Though Peter made it look easy to get people to smile…

“Hey, man. Where’s Peter at?” Rhodey called as soon as he saw Tony come through the door.

“What, you can’t just be happy to see your best friend?” Tony asked, smirking as he rolled his eyes. “He’s outside with Wanda still. Fair warning here, I bought the kid a camera.”

Bruce, who was making himself some tea in the kitchen right by where Rhodey was standing with his own mug, looked at Tony with a confused frown. “Sorry, why is that a warning?”

“Well, he brought it,” Tony said, shrugging and taking a seat at the table. “There’s pretty much no way he’s _not_ going to be taking pictures of all of you.”

Clint pulled out the chair to the right of Tony’s with a groan, plopping himself into it. “But I didn’t even try to do my hair this morning. Tell him to come back when I look nice.”

“Which is… when?” Tony questioned, raising a skeptical eyebrow. He ignored Clint’s glare, which was equal parts amused and offended, and looked back at Rhodey again. “Hey, do you still want to come when Peter takes his test? He’s supposed to do it tomorrow before school.”

“Really?” Rhodey cocked his head to the side. “Is he ready?”

During dinner at the tower the last time Rhodey had come by, the conversation had gone ot Peter’s driving lessons. Tony swore driving with Peter was the most terrifying thing he’d ever gone through and that he’d probably never get to actually take his test. Peter strongly disagreed. All Rhodey knew was that he wanted to witness it firsthand and decide for himself.

Tony had very dramatically declared that he wasn’t about to support a plan that could easily end in his kid killing his best friend. They’d agreed that he could along if Peter ever actually got to take the test.

“Test?” Clint furrowed his eyebrows, tipping his chair precariously onto his back legs as he waited for some kind of context.

“Driving,” Rhodey supplied with a small smirk. “Tony thinks he’s going to die.”

“Come on,” Clint chuckled. “Teenagers drive all the time. He’s not gonna die.”

“No, no,” Rhodey practically snickered, now sporting a full grin. “Tony thinks _he’s_ going to die. Like, while Peter’s driving.  The way he makes the lessons sound, it’s a miracle either of them are still with us.”

Tony made an offended scoffing sound. “I have seen my life flash before my eyes during a lefthand turn far too many times, I will have you know. And don’t even get me started on when he tries to brake because I’m pretty sure I have moderate to severe whiplash and it is entirely the fault of my kid.”

“Tony… You are so obviously exaggerating,” Rhodey replied, still smiling. “And yes, I’m definitely still interested in coming. Maybe I’ll come back to the tower with you tonight so I won’t have to worry about getting there in time in the morning.”

“Yes, let’s just pretend that plan has everything to do with Peter’s driving and nothing to do with my cooking,” Tony intoned. He kept a mostly straight face though his mouth quirked up just slightly, giving Rhodey the feeling that he was feeling rather pleased with himself.

There was a quiet snort of laughter from one of the couches. When Tony tuned to find the source, he was met with Bucky trying very hard to look busy and unaware of his surroundings. Natasha, however - who was sitting suspiciously close to him as they only sort of watched the news together - was  wearing an amused smirk.

Tony narrowed his eyes and frowned at them. “What? Don’t think I can cook?”

“Oh, he can cook,” they all heard behind them, followed immediately by the sound of a camera clicking. “Don’t mind me. Just taking pictures. Hi, by the way.”

Peter gave them a little wave and raised the camera again, apparently not minding the displeased expressions displayed on most of their faces.

Tony waved back at Peter and turned back around in his seat, shooting Bucky and Natasha a self-satisfied grin. “Peter likes my cooking.”

“Yeah, as long as it doesn’t make me sick,” Peter confirmed, smirk audible in his voice as his dad rolled his eyes dramatically.

-

It turned out Tony’s initial warning about the camera was well founded.

Peter hardly put down his camera the whole time they were there. He only set it down at two points. First, when Tony said he wasn’t allowed to have it at the table while they ate. Second, when his camera ran out of storage space.

That had been cause for momentary relief from the people who were really tired of being photographed. Then he whipped out his laptop and moved all the photos there to free up his camera again.

Pretty much everyone was surprised when Natasha agreed with a comment Peter made about there not being enough pictures of the team and then took it a step further by making everyone sit down and let Peter take as many pictures as he wanted until he was satisfied.

Peter thought that was great.

Then she sat with him and let him show her all his favorite pictures on his laptop. After complimenting his talent as a photographer, she said that if he picked out his favorites from that evening, edited them as much as he deemed necessary, and had prints ordered and framed for her to put up somewhere in the compound… she’d pay him.

He thought that was even greater.

So that was when Peter decided he wanted to be a photographer.

“Like, as a job?” Tony asked skeptically when he heard Peter’s declaration after the Avengers meeting. Since Peter hadn’t been needed in the meeting, he had sat outside and done whatever it was he did to pictures on his laptop while he facetimed Ned and helped him decide which Lego set to buy with the gift card he’d won in a raffle at the supermarket the other day.

“Yeah, why not?” Peter shrugged, eyes flicking up from his laptop screen. “I’m good at it. And we talked about me getting a job, remember? This way, I don’t have to do job applications and  interviews or anything and wouldn’t have a work schedule on top of my school and Spider-Man. I see no downside.”

“Right, but how much can you realistically make from that?” Tony asked, looking like he was actually trying to calculate it himself. “Wouldn’t it take a while to save of for a car doing photography?”

Steve hummed in agreement, just coming over to sit with everyone else once he’d poured himself some coffee. “Photography’s a great hobby and all but it might be beneficial to look for a more typical first job if you’re trying to save up. Besides, a free lance type of job won’t be as impactful when it comes to learning things like time management and work ethic.”

“Well…” Tony sighed seriously, clapping a hand on Peter’s shoulder and looking him straight in the eye. “Sounds like you’ve got a green light from me. Let me know if you need help starting your photography business or whatever.”

Peter had to physically bite his lip to keep from grinning, mentally forcing himself not to look at Steve’s no doubt annoyed expression. “Cool,” he practically choked out. “Thanks, Dad.”

Despite his best efforts, Peter couldn’t really convincingly hide his laughter at Steve’s long suffering sigh.

After that, they spent a little time offering pointers to Peter on how to keep track of everything for his photography and helped him decide how to price things. Then Clint came up with the idea of making some kind of sign for the bulletin board at school so people would know he was available to take pictures. That lead to Clint, Tony, Natasha, and Wanda crowding around Peter’s laptop and helping design it so he could print it and bring it to school in the morning.

When Tony decided it was finally time to leave, he was told no because it was the night before Halloween and they wanted to watch scary movies. “They” mostly meant Clint, who complained that trying to watch scary movies at home was a major risk with  little kids right upstairs who could come down at any moment. Most everyone else had just agreed to it. Since he didn’t see any logical reason that they had to be involved in this plan, Tony agreed to stay for one movie.

It ended it up being closer to a half a movie when Peter fell asleep. Tony scooped him up and carried him out to the car the second he felt the kid’s head hit his shoulder. Peter was apparently tired enough that he didn’t wake up after being deposited in the backseat and buckled in. In fact, he kept on sleeping even when Tony turned on his music while they waited for Rhodey, who had been entirely serious about staying at the tower for the night.

He’d complain about Tony’s choice not to wake him up later when he realized he’d missed the chance to go on patrol but it didn’t matter. Tony was pretty set on the idea that Peter needed sleep, even if he didn’t agree.

Besides, if they were going to get up and go to take Peter’s driving test, Tony didn’t want the teenager to be nodding off behind the wheel. That would increase the likelihood of death.

-

**From: May Parker**

**To: Peter Stark**

**There’s a new cafe not ten minutes from your school. We could meet there for breakfast on Friday one hour before you have to be in school.**

**I don’t know how you expect us to start over but if you want to try, I think I owe you at least that much, right?**

**Let me know if Friday works.**

-

Peter huffed and shut off his laptop, shoving it into his backpack before slinging the bag over his shoulder and hurrying to catch up to Tony and Rhodey, who had just gotten in the elevator.

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked as the door shut. He was watching Peter closely, his features pinched in an expression of concern and maybe a little suspicion. “Were you looking at so-called news sites again?”

“No,” Peter answered, rolling his eyes slightly. He knew Tony looked at that stuff too… “Just checking my email.” There was a pause. No one said anything so Peter kept going. “May finally got back to me. I really didn’t think she was going to. She didn’t even say anything about it took her a while.”

Tony frowned and shoved his hands into his pockets, leaning back against the handlebar at the back of the elevator. “What’d she say?”

“She wants to get breakfast before school Friday. Uh, and I don’t think she thinks we can, like, be ok, I guess… Maybe we can’t but I still want to try, you know?” He glanced at Rhodey, who was pretending not to be listening to them. But what else would he possibly be doing? “I emailed Aunt May,” Peter explained to him, smirking at his surprised expression at being addressed. “I just don’t think I should completely cut ties with her. She did pretty much raise me, after all.”

“Uh, yeah… but didn’t she also kick you out at fifteen?”

“He’s got his mind made up,” Tony told his friend, pushing off the handlebar as the doors slid open. “We’ll see what happens, I guess. I already told him he doesn’t actually have to talk to her again but apparently he wants to. I’m not stopping him.”

As he moved past Peter, the teenager grabbed him in a quick hug and smiled gratefully. “Thanks again for that, by the way. I appreciate it.”

“Wait, what’s that for?” Rhodey asked from behind them when Peter let go and started walking towards the car Tony had decided they were taking.

“Not stopping him, apparently? Respecting him enough to let him make decisions on his own, I guess.” Tony shrugged, gesturing for Rhodey to follow him as he kept walking to catch up with Peter, who was just waiting by the car then. “And yet another thing I am so graciously allowing Peter to do,” he said with a smirk in Peter’s direction as he unlocked the car. “Is let him take his driving test, which we’re going to be late for. So get in so we can go and hopefully _not_ die or destroy any public property.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, you guys, sometimes I get bored. I like talking to people so if you ever feel like it... come ask me questions on Tumblr or something! ;D


	38. Chapter Thirty-Eight

All Peter could think about was how cold it was.

Well, ok… ‘could’ might not have been the best word. Rather, it was all he _would_ think about. If he let himself start thinking about other things, he’d worry.

It was Friday morning and he was waiting outside the cafe we’d agreed to meet May at. She was ten minutes late already and he was starting to worry she wouldn’t come at all. That was why he was making himself think about the temperature instead.

You might wonder why he didn’t just wait inside but there was a reason for it. May was the kind of person who would back out of something at the last second. She’d get where she was supposed to be and turn around.

Peter figured it would be harder to do that if she made eye contact first…

He didn’t have a plan aside from trying to be nice and figure out where they stood with each other. Plans for human interaction rarely played out the way they were meant to so he thought maybe having a plan would only give him more reason to worry.

Halloween had been a good day. By some miracle, Peter had actually passed his test. That had been nice aside from the fact that it didn’t help anything much since Tony had decided he couldn’t drive until he got his own car.

School had been ok that day too. Costumes were only allowed if they used regular clothes so it was kinda cool to see what people did, though most of them didn’t bother and just wore Halloween themed shirts instead.

But then there was Mary Jane… She had just worn dark clothes, which wasn’t uncommon for her, but had done very subtle but very convincing vampire makeup. She even had little fangs that might not have been allowed but she just didn’t say anything around teachers so she got away with it.

Peter didn’t know showing up to school in vampire makeup could be so amazing…

After school, Ned and Mary Jane had come to the tower to watch scary movies and eat too much candy and Ned had stayed for a sleepover. It had been Ned’s job to pick the movies and had been told by Mary Jane not to pick any B-movies because she was in the mood for a real movie and then told by Peter to maybe just aim for ones that didn’t involve any evil scientists. This wasn’t an issue for Ned, who had apparently already prepared a list of movies to pick from and hadn’t included any that the would object to.

Peter really wasn’t sure how he’d managed that before being told what to look for but he wasn’t complaining about it either.

So far, the photography thing hadn’t really gone anywhere, though a couple of his teachers had asked him about it. He was still taking pictures all the time anyway and figured he’d just wait and see what happened.

He had just decided to pull out his camera and take some more pictures while he waited when May finally got there. She waved uncomfortably and smiled somewhat hesitantly.

“Hey,” Peter greeted with a smile he hoped looked genuine. It was hard not to feel at least a little awkward. “I’ve got still got…” He glanced at his watch and shrugged. “About a half hour. Still want to get breakfast?”

May looked in the window and then back at him. “Sure. The line’s not long. Sorry I was late.”

“It’s ok,” Peter replied, going to get the door for her. They got in line with only one person ahead of them. “Have you been here before?”

“Twice,” she told him. They both stared ahead at the menu, clearly avoiding eye contact with each other. “They have the best muffins you’ll ever taste.”

“Maybe not the _best_.” He couldn’t help the small grin that spread on his face.

May shrugged a little. “Well, ok, maybe they’re not better than the ones you could buy for a hundred bucks each but they’re pretty good with lower standards.”

Finally turning his head to look her, Peter tried and failed to hold back a short laugh. “I have never had a muffin that expensive. They’re muffins, May. Who would pay that much for a muffin?”

“Rich people?” she suggested.

“None of the ones I know. Not that I know that many,” he added. “Pretty much just Tony. And Harry Osborn.”

“You know Harry Osborn? Norman Osborn’s kid?” May asked, cocking her head to the side with a confused look on her face. “I thought Stark hated him. He told me it was about you.”

Peter frowned but nodded briefly. “Yeah, Harry’s not bad though. It’s our turn. I can pay if you -”

“No, I’m paying,” she interrupted. “I was late and I feel bad.”

He thought about arguing but decided against it, nodding acceptingly instead. He gave her a grateful smile, which she returned warmly before ordering for them.

Maybe this could work… Peter hoped it would, anyway.

“So…” May said in that way that means you have no idea what’s going to follow. They had just sat down at a small corner table and we waiting for their order to be ready.

Peter raised his eyebrows. “So?”

“Uh, is everything… going well?” She questioned, her tone unsure.

“Everything… as in the adoption? The… extracurricular activities? Just… everything?”

She nodded rapidly, forcing a quick smile. “The last one.”

“Right. Well, uh… everything’s pretty good, I guess,” he told her, nodding slowly. “It’s weird… different, obviously. You know I kinda have a hard time with that so… there are hard parts but it’s kinda worth it, I guess. Um, so what about you? Is everything going well for you?”

“Well…”

Their order being called seemed to be a welcome interruption to May, who hurried to get up and go get their muffins and drinks. Peter narrowed his eyes slightly and considered pushing the issue since now he was just suspicious but they only had so much time before he had to get to school anyway. He wasn’t going to antagonize her.

“It’s sure been weird opening a magazine or turning on the news and seeing pictures of you,” May said when she sat back down, obviously trying to change the subject. “Especially because they all keep calling you Peter _Stark_. It’s so strange!”

“Yeah, I mean, that’s kinda my name now,” Peter mumbled around his cup as he drank his hot chocolate. “So, it’s not _that_ weird.”

“Well… yeah, I guess so,” she said with a small sigh. “Still, it’s not something I would’ve expected. And now I feel like the world knows things about you _I_ never even knew.”

“Like?”

May shrugged and took a bite of her muffin, maybe hoping he’d say something else and move on. He didn’t. “Well, like your scars. I never saw anything like that and suddenly it’s all over the place.”

Peter frowned a little but nodded. “Yeah, I mean, I wasn’t exactly going out of my way to hide it from you though. You just… never noticed.”

“Could I… could I see, maybe?”

Well, _that_ was unexpected.

Peter blinked rapidly, trying to think of how he even _wanted_ to respond. He briefly considered just leaving. But then he just nodded hesitantly. “I… guess so? Like, my - my arm or… what?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” she said, shrugging a little.

Taking a calming breath, Peter nodded again and bit down hard on his lip. Everyone had seen it already anyway so what was the big deal?

“Ok,” he said, tugging his sleeve up so she could see. He only left the sleeve up for a moment before pulling it back down to his wrist. “Is that… enough?”

May was still looking at his arm even with the sleeve covering the scars. Her eyes had widened and though she opened her mouth to say something, nothing came out.

“Ok, you saw it so just… can we please move on?” Peter asked, trying not to sound as impatient and agitated as he felt. It was all he could do not to curl up in a ball.

“Sorry,” she said, blinking a few times and tearing her gaze from his arm, which was now hugged tightly around his middle, and up to his eyes instead. “It’s just - wow. That’s pretty horrible.”

“I know that,” he responded, tone sharper than he’d intended. “You _really_ don’t have to tell me that.”

Her eyes flickered back to his arm again for a moment. “I mean, Peter, how do you deal with having your arm look that way? I can’t imagine seeing that every day and being ok with it.”

Peter closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands.

_Breathe._

“Yeah, I never said it was nice to look at. And it’s not like I asked for it, ok? Can we move on, _please_?”

“Oh, sure. Yeah, we can… sorry, it’s just…” she trailed off awkwardly.

Peter shook his head to tell her she didn’t have to keep going and lowered his hands. “I have to go soon. Can you just… tell me how you’re doing? Other than being weirded out by seeing pictures of me? I’m… I’m really happy where I am right now and I just… I want you to be happy too, you know?”

“Right,” May said, giving him a considering look and finally answering him. “I’m doing ok. Making do. I’m not used to living alone. I’ve never lived alone before so it’s difficult but I manage. Actually… if you really want to know, I’d like to tell you about something but… not now.”

“Why?” Peter asked suspiciously, furrowing his eyebrows and frowning slightly.

“Well, because it’s not - don’t worry about it,” she told him, giving a strained smile. “You have to get going and so do I. I’ll meet with you again if you really want to and I can tell you more about what I’ve been up to then, ok? Just email me or something if you want to do this again.”

Peter’s frown deepened but he nodded. He pushed his chair back and stood, gathering his trash and half full cup. “Yeah, ok. I’ll email you. Maybe we can talk more next time. If we shoot for a half hour earlier maybe we’ll actually get a whole hour, yeah?”

He left before she could respond, tossing his trash in the garbage can but keeping the paper cup of hot chocolate to finish on his way over to school.

What exactly he’d been expecting, Peter didn’t know. But that had been awful. May had seemed mildly annoyed and inconvenienced the entire time as if _he’d_ been the one who showed up late. He’d tried to be open and honest and push back but it still hadn’t been simple. And what ever was?

He was trying not to be annoyed to her. She had probably been feeling just as awkward and uncomfortable as he was. He’d been the one who asked to meet and she’d said yes. He was the one who wanted to try and start over and she was the one who didn’t think it would work but was willing to give it a shot anyway. It wasn’t fair to just be irritated with her, was it?

Really, he had no idea. He knew what Tony would say… and Mary Jane and Ned and probably everyone. Still… it wasn’t nice to just be annoyed with people and make everything out to be one-sided.

So he’d email her again. They’d meet again and he’d at least of an idea of what to expect it to be like. That would help…

He wanted to call Tony and tell him about it. But he wasn’t exactly in the mood for an “I told you so”, no matter how kind Tony could make it sound if he wanted. He’d just tell him about it later…

-

By the end of the day, Peter just wanted to forget about everything. The way he saw it, he could that by either curling up under his covers and putting in his earbuds or by getting in his suit and swinging around between buildings.

He wasn’t sure yet which of those was more appealing at the moment.

School had been mostly ok. He’d corrected a couple teachers on his name, which he tried not to do too often. He knew it was an honest mistake and he didn’t want to sound like a total braggart so he tried to just ignore it. Tony said that was nice but also unnecessary because who cares what people think and ‘Parker’ is no longer his name so why not correct people when they use it?

He also said it wasn’t going to get him detention or anything, which turned out the be true. The first one just said they were sorry and it had been force of habit, which he knew. The second one looked mildly annoyed but Peter hadn’t gotten in trouble for it so he guessed it was ok.

Harry hadn’t been so annoyingly flirtatious with Mary Jane, which was a nice change if you asked Peter. Still, Peter hadn’t been in the most social mood after meeting with May for breakfast so he didn’t really feel like it mattered that much.

Ned had talked to him about all kinds of stuff the entire day but Peter had only sort of listened. It hadn’t seemed to bother Ned, who kept going anyway.

Some freshman kid had asked Peter to sign his napkin at lunch so that was… interesting. He was sort of looking forward to telling Tony about it because he was pretty sure it would make him laugh. That kind of thing tended to make Peter feel better.

After Peter had looked at the younger kid like he was crazy but complied anyway, Ned spent the rest of their time before the next class talking about how _everyone_ would want Peter to sign their yearbooks when they got them. He was pretty sure Peter’s hand would cramp up by the end of the day. That lead to speculation about if Peter could do things like that longer due to his spider powers or if he’d be able to put up with repeatedly signing things just as long as anyone. Naturally, that made Ned wonder if celebrities ever got hand cramps from signing things.

Peter pretty much tuned the whole thing out.

It wasn’t that he’d had a _bad_ day exactly. It just hadn’t started out very well and the rest of the day had seemed to drag on far too long.

Tony had another meeting and normally Peter would see that as a perfect opportunity to get in a little extra superhero time but… he figured he’d just take the long way home and stop for a sandwich at Delmar’s instead.

The bodega was practically empty when he got there so he ended up staying there and reading the paper while he ate. That ended up being a bad idea since sitting there longer prompted him to buy three more packs of gummy bears… though maybe that was a good thing. Peter was undecided.

When he got back home, Tony was already there though it looked like he’d only been back for a couple minutes.

“Hey, kid. Have a good day?”

Peter had kind of planned on just telling Tony it had been fine and going to take a nap or watch tv or something but… something about his dad’s smile just made him forget about that.

“Not really…” he answered with a small shrug. “Can I - uh, can I have a hug? Please?”

Tony didn’t even hesitate to wrap Peter up in his arms; didn’t even stop to ask any questions. He only had to be asked once and he was right there to comfort his kid, regardless of what the problem was. His hold made Peter feel safe and like at least for then it didn’t matter how disappointing his day had been.

He wondered what it would’ve been like to have this his whole life.

Ben and May had been the kinds of people who wanted to talk everything out and since Peter hadn’t always felt like doing that he hadn’t always told them if he felt sad. Sometimes he just wanted a little comfort without having to explain anything.

As soon as Peter moved back - because Tony definitely wasn’t going to be the one to break the hug - they were getting out ice cream and heading for the couch. Since he felt more like listening than talking, Peter made Tony tell him about _his_ day until Peter felt any different.

When he finally felt more like sharing, the first thing Peter said was, “how come it’s so easy for you to like me and so hard for May?”

Tony fixed Peter with an unimpressed stare. “Uh, first of all, who ever said it was easy, huh?”

Peter didn’t bother to answer, opted for a dry glare instead.

“Ok,” Tony chuckled, looping an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Second of all, I really don’t think that’s the problem. It’s not that she doesn’t _like_ you. Honestly, I don’t know what exactly it is but there’s nothing wrong with _you_ , got it? Also, what did she say to you?”

After briefly considering, once again, just saying ‘nothing’, Peter took a deep breath sighed heavily. “Ok. So first she was super late and I tried to be ok with it but that’s kind of annoying and just - I’m sorry but it’s rude, ok? And inconsiderate. No, stop smiling, it’s not funny. So then she was, like - I think she was annoyed that I said I’ve had good muffins. That doesn’t make sense! And I tried, Dad, ok? I really tried. I was trying to be patient and not get annoyed about everything but it was hard because it really didn’t feel like she wanted to be there and why say yes if you don’t -”

“Slow down, will you?” Tony cut him off, eyebrows raised incredulously. “Let me get this straight, kid. You’re telling me she was just really annoying and you were frustrated?”

“No,” Peter told him, frowning petulantly. He crossed his arms and slid down the couch a little. “Mostly it was just - she was asking about my scars and she wanted to see and I just figured you can find it pretty easily on the internet now so…”

“So… that didn’t end well, I’m guessing?” Tony asked softly when Peter trailed off. “You know it doesn’t matter what people say about it though, right? Even if it’s your aunt. Still doesn’t matter what she has to say about it, ok?”

Peter nodded and leaned his head back against Tony’s arm. “It’s not that. It’s more… Look, I know it was stupid and you said it might not go well but I just… wanted it to.”

“I did too. Mostly for your sake… But what’s done is done, right? Time to move on?”

He felt Peter’s shrug more than saw it.

“What does _that_ mean?”

“Well… just because it didn’t go well this time, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try again,” Peter explained. Tony would almost describe his tone as resigned. “So I can’t just give up after this one time, you know?”

“Yeah,” Tony acknowledged with a considering nod. “But it’s not wrong if you want to either. I’m just saying… if you decide you’ve had enough, it’s ok to just move on from it all, ok?”

He didn’t answer for a minute. Tony thought maybe he was thinking about it. Probably having some sort of inner battle regarding whether or not it was really ok, if his knees slowly moving up against his chest were anything to go by. Having picked up on some visual cues like that, Tony was going to say that was definitely something to go on. He was about to say something more when Peter shrugged again and sighed quietly.

“Sure. I’m still going to keep trying for a while but… not any longer than I actually want to. I promise.”

Tony smiled and squeezed Peter’s shoulders. “Good. That’s all I’m asking.”

-

By the time he went to bed that night, Peter had cheered up immensely. Any hint of his dejected mood still left over in the morning was completely abandoned when he woke up to find that Tony had finally succeeded in making pretty much flawless coffee cake and was just in a great mood that rubbed off on Peter while they ate. He had very briefly considered staying in bed all day when he first woke up. After breakfast, he felt ready to completely conquer the day.

Peter wondered if that was a dad thing or a Tony thing… Either way, Tony just seemed to know how to make everything better.

Since it was a weekend and he didn’t feel like hiding in his bed anymore, Peter got into his suit and climbed out the window as soon as they’d finished breakfast. All Tony said was that he had to be back by lunch and if he was going to be out later then he absolutely had to call and let Tony know. That sounded doable.

About an hour to lunch, Peter stopped for a snack, which ended up being a pretzel he got for free because the man selling them said he was ‘the freakin’ coolest’, and decided to call Tony more for company than anything.

“Don’t worry, I’m not in trouble. Just saying hi,” Peter told him the second he’d answered the call. “I know you worry.”

He heard a sigh through the phone and grinned.

 _“Yeah, ok, kid. I think it’s fair to worry,”_ he argued. _“You get hurt a lot.”_

“Not _that_ often,” Peter scoffed as he took a bite out of the pretzel. “Just sometimes. Anyway, what are up to?”

_“Nothing exciting. What about you? FRIDAY told me people on Twitter were sharing a video of you falling out a tree when you tried to help a cat. Sounds fun.”_

Peter narrowed his eyes at nothing but couldn’t help it when the corners of his mouth quirked upwards a little. “I didn’t fall. I just misjudged the distance and landed wrong. Also, don’t try and sound like you didn’t actually watch it because if you heard about it then I don’t believe you just _didn’t_ play it.”

He heard Tony laugh as he admitted Peter was right. Of course he’d watched it. Why wouldn’t he? And some lucky person was going to check their notifications and see that Tony Stark at liked their video.

Peter remembered before he knew Tony and would’ve died if something like that happened to him…

 _“So what else has Spider-Man done this morning?”_ Tony questioned.

“Uh… not too much. I’m in the paper though, apparently. I saw Spider-Man on the front page of the Daily Bugle but I didn’t read it,” Peter told him, kicking his feet in the air from the side of the fire escape he was taking his break on. “It was a really crappy picture anyway. They should at least try to get good ones if nothing else.”

 _“Oh yeah, that’s the paper that hates you, right?”_ Tony chuckled.

“Apparently,” Peter confirmed dryly. “I don’t really get it though. They’ve hated me since I first showed up and I still have no idea what I did wrong!”

Peter could remember the first time he saw his picture in the Daily Bugle. The actual photograph had been so blurry it had taken some work to figure out what it even was. It had accompanied what was quite frankly more of a rant than an article all about how a “spandex clad freak” had begun terrorizing the city by crawling all over buildings and covering everything in webs.

He really wasn’t sure that was entirely accurate.

_“Personally, I think Jameson just likes to have someone to pick on and you’re an easy target.”_

“What? Why am I an easy target?” Peter demanded indignantly. “I’m a superhero!”

 _“A short, skinny one though,”_ Tony chuckled. _“Besides, when have you ever defended yourself when he starts criticizing you?”_

“Ok, but -”

 _“Sorry, what was that? When did you say you defended yourself?”_ There was an audible smirk there.

Peter sighed and mumbled, “kinda never.”

_“Exactly.”_

“And you’re saying… what, that I should call him out or something? Sue him?”

Tony snorted. _“Maybe not sue him, Pete.”_

“Yeah, that might be considered an extreme reaction,” Peter agreed sagely. “And I don’t know how the courts would handle the case if I’m wearing a mask and will only tell them my name is ‘Spider-Man’.” He paused the stuff the rest of his pretzel in his mouth and then gasped, perking up and nearly falling off the fire escape in the process. “Hey, I could sell them _my_ pictures! I bet they’d pay for better ones, right?”

_“Wait, pictures of Spider-Man?”_

“Right.”

He was only met with silence for a moment. Then he thought he heard Tony set down whatever tool he’d been using.

 _“Peter… do you_ have _pictures of Spider-Man? Do you go out on patrol and take pictures of yourself?”_

“... Maybe sometimes,” Peter admitted, feeling his cheeks heat up a little. “I just like messing around with my camera and I’ve gotten some really cool pictures! I could totally make money off of ‘em.”

 _“So you want to sell the Bugle Spider-Man selfies?”_ Tony asked, clearly stifling a laugh.

“They’re not -”

 _“Seriously, this is your plan?”_ Tony continued. _“Spider-Man is going to sell pictures of himself to the guy who hates him and rants about it in the paper?”_

Peter frowning thoughtfully and tilted his head to the side. “Yeah, apparently. It would actually be pretty funny… _and_ New York would get some quality shots of their favorite wall crawler in action. _And_ I’d have money, which I think we can agree is definitely the best part.”

 _“Whatever, kid,”_ Tony laughed. _“You can try it if you want. You’d better get going though, if you want to get anything else done before you have to get back home.”_

-

Peter decided to stop by the Daily Bugle’s office building after school on Monday.

He’d spent some time on the weekend putting together a file with some of his best shots. Tony had looked it through it for him and thought it seemed pretty good but he didn’t really know that much about taking pictures _or_ about selling them to a paper.

When he looked it up online, he couldn’t find anything about the Daily Bugle making any special effort to get Spider-Man pictures but they did say on their website that they might buy pictures if they were good. Since they wrote about Spider-Man so often, Peter figured they’d like the idea of some decent pictures.

The way he saw it, it would catch people’s eye and they’d be more likely to pick up the paper. If the pictures were bad, why would people care?

He just hoped that was how the newspaper saw it too…

“Uh, Sir? Sir, excuse me, can you help me?” Peter asked the first person he saw who looked like they worked there once he got inside.

The man had been walking by, nose buried in some files. He stopped and looked up at Peter, eyebrows raised. Then he smiled and tucked the files under an arm, holding his hand out to Peter. “Hey, kid. I’m Ben Urich. How can I help you?”

“Peter. Nice to meet you,” he said, grinning and shaking Urich’s outstretched hand. “Uh, I have some pictures. I was hoping maybe the Bugle would be interested in them.”

“Pictures, huh? What of?”

“Spider-Man. It’s just - well, the ones you guys print are kinda crap and I think mine are better.”

Urich laughed warmly and clapped a hand against Peter’s arm. “Well, I appreciate your confidence. Listen, I’m a reporter so I can’t exactly handle that kind of thing but why don’t I take you over to Miss Brant’s desk and she’ll see if there’s anything we can do for you, ok?”

Peter nodded and smiled gratefully. “Thanks. I’ve never done anything like this before so I really don’t know what I’m -”

“Well, don’t tell anyone that. Just pretend you know exactly what you’re doing, got it?”

“Um… sure, ok.”

Urich started off farther into the offices, weaving through the slight chaos that was the newsroom almost effortlessly. Peter was expected to follow and he was pretty sure he would’ve slammed into someone if it hadn’t been for the added bonus of his enhanced reflexes.

They got to what he assumed was “Miss Brant’s desk”, since they’d stopped, but there was no one there. Urich told him to just wait there for her but he had to get back to work. Peter nodded with another smile and thanked Urich for the help.

The desk was right in front of an office made up of windows, all blocked out by drawn blinds. Peter could hear someone shouting passionately inside and didn’t have to see the source of the voice to know it was J. Jonah Jameson himself.

He could’ve been hearing it wrong… but Peter was pretty sure Jameson was insisting to someone that Spider-Man had definitely tried to murder a cat the other day.

_Lovely._

“Oh, hello there. Can I help you with something?” A friendly, if confused, voice said behind Peter.

He spun around to face the person speaking to him. She had just taken a seat at the previously unoccupied desk and was scooting it in.

“Um, yeah. Are you Miss Brant?”

“Betty,” she corrected with a bright smile. “And you are…?”

“Sorry! Peter. I’m Peter. I just - pictures,” he said lamely, holding his folder up just under his face. “I take pictures and I’m trying to sell them. To the paper, I mean. This one.”

Betty’s smile grew a little and she nodded, leaning forward with her arms folded on the desktop. “I see… And what have you taken pictures of, Peter?”

“Mostly Spider-Man,” he answered, shrugging a little. “Well, I take other pictures too! It’s just that I’m trying to sell pictures of Spider-Man, specifically, because - I mean, you guys print a lot of stories about him so I thought you would want more pictures or something, you know?”

She nodded thoughtfully and held out a hand. “May I?”

Peter nodded rapidly and handed her the folder, which she opened as she leaned back in her seat, flipping through the small stack of prints.

“These are pretty good! You’ve got a real knack for photography there.” She looked back up at him and closed the folder. “Actually, Peter, you’re in luck. See, Mr. Jameson was just complaining about how hard it is for people to get any pictures of Spidey. I think there’s a good chance he’d be willing to buy these.”

“What, really? That’s great!” Peter grinned.

Just then, something smacked into the blinds at the other side of the glass of Jameson’s office, making them rattle noisily against each other. Peter only just managed to keep from flinching.

“I’m sure you can tell he’s a little busy,” Betty sighed, her cheery smile wilting a little. “It might not be the best idea to talk to him now. Why don’t I hold onto this for you and when it’s a good time - or as good as it can get - I’ll show them to him and if he wants them, which I really do think he will, I’ll give you a call so you can stop by again to get paid, sound good?”

Peter’s grin returned and he nodded agreeably. “Sure. Yeah, that’d be great. Do you need, like, my phone number or email or something?”

“How about both?” Betty suggested, handing him a pen and notepad.

He scrawled out his name and contact information and passed it back. It was one of the rare times when he hadn’t started to write ‘Parker’ before catching himself and scribbling out the ‘P’ so he could replace it with ‘Stark’. He’d been getting better at it but it still gave him trouble sometimes, just like the first couple months of the year when you’re still in the habit of writing the last year instead.

After she tore the page out to clip to his folder, Betty looked up at him with slightly wider eyes. “Wait,” she said. “You’re Peter _Stark_ , as in the kid Tony Stark adopted?”

“Uh, yeah,” Peter confirmed, cheeks turning a little pink.

“Well, what are doing trying to sell pictures to a newspaper?” she asked, though not unkindly. “Don’t you get some kind of allowance? I wouldn’t think it would hurt Stark’s bank account that much.”

Peter breathed a laugh and shrugged. “Well, I’m trying to get a car and he says I have to buy it myself so… I’ve gotta earn money somehow, right? And I like taking pictures so it seemed like a good option. Figured I’d at least give it a shot.”

Betty chuckled and shook her head slightly. “Well, _I_ never would’ve guessed it but I think it’s great. Listen, you have a good rest of your day. You’ll probably hear from me tomorrow but if not then, you can definitely expect something the day after.”

“Great. Thanks,” Peter said, starting to step away from the desk. “Um, it was really nice meeting you. I hope you have a good day too!”

“Thanks, Peter,” she said with another bright smile, all while Jameson hollered on the other side of the windows.

Peter really wondered how Betty managed to stay so positive…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand we have the Daily Bugle! Yay! ^-^
> 
> Ok, so I'm not certain yet an I'm sorry if this ends up being the case... but it's possible that this'll be the last two chapter week for a while. The thing is, I still have a decent number of chapters pre-written that I can post but I've been kinda blocked on this story for while. :/ I'm trying to get this story finished before school swamps my schedule but I don't know if I'll be able to. If I spread the chapters back out to once a week, it'll give me more time. otherwise, I might get to the end of the completed chapters and leave you guys hanging for who knows how long. Unfortunately, that could still happen anyway but it would at least be later if chapter are only on Mondays. I'm really sorry, guys!


	39. Chapter Thirty-Nine

Peter practically lived in front of his laptop until he heard from Betty early Wednesday morning. The email said Jameson wanted the pictures and Peter could either come by before school or after. She _said_ it didn’t matter but also said Jameson wasn’t a very patient person so Peter kinda got the feeling it _did_ matter.

The second he’d read the email, he packed his laptop and schoolbooks up in his backpack and tugged his shoes on.

“Dad, I can’t stay to eat breakfast!” He called, snatching a jacket from the back of his door and yanking it shut behind him.

“What? Why?” Tony called back from the kitchen. “But I’m trying to make waffles again! You can’t just leave!”

“Sorry,” Peter responded, shrugging on his backpack just as he got to the kitchen. “I have to go right now. Betty from the Daily Bugle emailed me and I need to go over there before school so I can’t eat anything because if I don’t go right now then -”

Tony waved him off with an unimpressed glare. “Yeah, yeah. Save your breath. Just go, kid. Don’t worry about all the effort that goes into keeping you fed and all that.” He added a wink at the end so Peter would know he was only teasing. Sometimes Tony thought he was being obvious and then it turned out Peter was taking him completely seriously. He’d come to feel it was better to be safe than sorry.

“I’m sorry, Dad, but I really don’t want to miss this opportunity,” Peter explained, grabbing two apples out of the bowl Rhodey had very strongly encouraged them to keep on the counter at all times. “I’ll see you after school and I’ll text or call you after I leave the Bugle so you know I’m going to school and you can hear how it went and stuff.”

“Run-on,” Tony muttered. “Thought you were smart.”

“Science smart,” Peter pointed out, grinning cheekily. “Never claimed to be English smart. Seriously though, I have to go.”

His dad waved him off again with a fond chuckle. “Yeah, ok, kid. Good luck with that, uh... angry mustache guy.”

Peter laughed and headed for the door. “Sure thing. Have a good day.”

“Love you,” Tony called after him as the door shut. He thought he heard Peter shout something back. Probably something along the lines of, “yeah, you too”. That was usually what it was.

-

Mr. Jameson was outside of his office when Peter got there.

He was still shouting though and Peter wondered if he ever stopped.

“Well, _I’m_ telling you that I don’t have all day to wait!” Jameson was hollering at Betty Brant, who sat at her desk in front of him clearly doing her best to keep an agreeable smile on her face. “We can’t print a paper without pictures and _apparently_ I can’t have any of these pictures until -”

“Peter!” Betty’s relieved call in Peter’s direction cut Jameson off. Her eyes had lit up when she noticed Peter standing in front of the door. She waved him over with a smile that he thought was maybe meant to be reassuring.

Really, the fact that she thought he’d need reassuring was a little concerning…

Still, he nodded and hurried over to her desk, now standing right beside Jameson. The man was so red in the face, his whole body seeming to be ready to explode, that Peter was surprised when there wasn’t actual heat emanating from him.

“Peter, hi,” Betty practically gushed. “Mr. Jameson would really like -”

“I can talk for myself, Miss Brant,” Jameson snapped, turning to look down at Peter. “You’re the one who took these pictures?”

He held up the folder of Peter’s Spider-Man pictures, flapping it briefly in front of Peter’s face.

“Yes, sir,” Peter answered quickly, nodding rapidly. He really hoped he didn’t look as shaken as he felt. Jameson was not a fun person to talk to.

“You’re Stark’s spawn?”

Peter’s eyes widened enough that he almost thought they were going to fall out of his face. He could hardly remember anyone asking him something so bluntly and just - _what even was that question?_

“Uh - I mean - No. No, I’m not - I’m adopted so… not really?” He spluttered helplessly, catching Betty’s sympathetic smile in the corner of his eye.

Jameson grunted in response and looked down at the folder, opening it up and flipping through the first few pictures. He shoved his cigar, which had been in one hand with the folder, into his mouth and looked back up at Peter again. “How did you manage to take these?”

“Well… I just - I don’t know what to tell you,” Peter answered honestly, shrugging a little. “I have, uh, I have a lot more, actually. At home.”

“I don’t want you selling to any other papers, Stark,” Jameson said sharply, jabbing the folder towards Peter’s chest. Really, Peter was amazed at how quickly Jameson shifted from one thing to another. “Miss Brant will write you up a check for these and I expect new ones when you have them. These are good but try and get some of this menace in the act and not just swinging around like some hooligan, understood?”

“Um, in the - the act?” Peter asked, unsure if he even _should_ ask any questions. “Act of what?”

“Terrorizing the citizens of New York, obviously,” Jameson told him as if it were, in fact, obvious.

Peter nodded slowly. “Uh-huh. Yeah, ok, I - I’ll try.”

Jameson gave him a stiff nod and then thrust the folders at someone passing them, barking orders about what to do with the pictures.

“Peter, just give me two minutes, ok?” Betty said, getting Peter’s attention with a small wave from her seat at her desk. “I just have to fill out the check.”

“Sure thing.” Peter nodded with a small smile. He glanced in the direction of Jameson, who was storming off to shout at someone else. “He’s, uh… wow.”

“That’s one word for him,” Betty chuckled as she rifled through her desk drawer. “You know, he’s not your dad’s biggest fan. I’ll tell you… he was already interested in your pictures but when I mentioned your name? Oh, he loved that.”

Peter’s head tilted curiously to the side. “Why’s that if he doesn’t like Tony?”

Betty made an odd face but it disappeared a moment later, replaced with her friendly smile. “Well, I think he liked the idea of having Tony Stark’s kid work for him. Makes him feel special or something, I guess,” she added with a playful wink. “I hope he doesn’t scare you off though. If you take more pictures, you should come back. Don’t think you have to though. Since you’re not working an official Daily Bugle job he can’t actually stop you from selling to other papers.”

“Well, I don’t plan on going to any others,” Peter said, shrugging again. “Besides, he’s not… ok, he’s pretty bad. But I don’t mind.”

He was already making mental notes to get lots of pictures of Spider-Man doing helpful things… maybe he could sway Jameson’s opinion with some photographic evidence of how nice Spider-Man really was.

Betty handed Peter his check with another grin and wished him a good day at school. For the sake of good manners, Peter didn’t read it until he got in the elevator.

Well… it didn’t make him rich by any means but Peter wondered how many pictures they’d buy from him in a week… Maybe it wouldn’t take _too_ long to save up for his car.

-

“I can’t decide if I hate or love this,” Mary Jane said at lunch after Peter told them about selling his pictures to the paper. She narrowed her eyes slightly, frowning thoughtfully. “On the one hand, it’s hilarious and like a private joke that only a select few get to be in on. But on the other hand, you’re aiding your own tormentor and you have to know he isn’t going to just _stop_ dragging you.”

Peter met her with a pleased grin. “I think it’s funny. Besides, I don’t think he’s really doing a great job convincing anyone of anything… And I’m getting paid, so I’m all for it.”

“Plus, it’s great cover,” Ned told them sagely, leaning forward and lowering his voice to avoid being overheard. Harry had stayed home from school that day and no one else was sitting with them so Peter wasn’t _too_ worried talking about these things at the moment. Still, he appreciated the effort to keep it quiet. “Think about it. People are already starting to suspect him but if he’s taking pictures for a paper that hates Spider-Man’s guts and isn’t shy about it… that should get them off his trail.”

“Who’s _on_ my trail?” Peter asked, eyes wide.

“Well, you know, just people,” Ned answered casually.

Peter turned in his seat to face Ned, grabbing onto his upper arm. “Ned, _who?_ ”

“Like, people on the internet, Peter.”

Mary Jane sighed and rolled her eyes, setting down the book she’d been reading while they talked. “Don’t worry about it, Peter. It’s nothing anyone’s taking seriously. There are just random people on reddit and Twitter and stuff. They think there’s a reason Spider-Man is seen around the tower so much and even more since you were adopted. They don’t have much else to go on, actually.”

_Breathe. Breathe._

“I - I need to talk to Tony about it. There’s no way he doesn’t know they’re saying stuff, which means he’s intentionally not saying anything,” Peter said, working to keep the mild panic out of his voice. “Why wouldn’t he tell me? I need - I need to be more careful.”

“Relax, Tiger,” Mary Jane said softly, setting her book aside, which he knew meant she was giving him her full attention. “It’s like I just said. It’s not anyone with any kind of weight, ok? No one cares.”

“But, MJ, they _will,_ ” Peter insisted. “It starts out small and unimportant and then the next thing you know it’s everywhere and everyone is talking about it and -”

“Yeah, but Ned has a good point,” she cut him off firmly. “This’ll help things. Once your pictures are printed in the paper and saw ‘Peter Stark’ under them, people won’t be so fast to make connections like that. Look, why don’t you go call your dad? He always calms you down.”

Peter swallowed hard and took a moment to just breathe. “Uh… I’ll - I’ll just text him.”

His friends nodded at him, both looking concerned. He grabbed his cell phone and stepped a little ways away from the table, leaving his backpack with them.

As he left, he heard Ned whisper to Mary Jane as he leaned closer to her. “Did I mess up? I feel like I messed up.”

Whatever Mary Jane said, Peter didn’t hear it.

**What do you know about people thinking Peter Stark is Spider-Man?**

It said ‘read’ beneath the text almost immediately. Peter watched the little dots as Tony texted his response and waited for it to be sent.

**Don’t worry about it.**

Peter glared at his phone and tapped out another text.

**Tony, it’s about me. You can’t just do that.**

Tony’s answer took a while. First, there was nothing. When he finally started typing, it disappeared and reappeared a number of time. When it finally sent, Peter understood why it had been such an ordeal.

**And YOU don’t get to do THAT. Focus on your classes. I’ll see you after school.**

He was mad.

Peter understood why without having to think about it for long, even though it hadn’t been intentional. He liked to think he was above a blow like that and wasn’t even all that mad at Tony. A little annoyed, yes, but not mad.

Peter could understand how it could be hurtful or offensive to Tony and decided not to try and defend himself.

Yet.

Surely, Tony wasn’t planning on just _not_ mentioning it. In fact, he was probably making FRIDAY help him plan what to say at that very second.

Peter figured he’d wait until he was home to get into it at all.

Since he’d been giving it some thought already, Peter wasn’t at all surprised to see Tony waiting right there when he came in the door.

“Good day?” Tony greeted, not sounding as if he planned on sticking to the subject for very long.

“Uh… It was ok, yeah,” Peter said softly, chewing on his bottom lip. “Um, I’m really sorry I -”

“Peter, I told you that you don’t have to call me ‘Dad’,” Tony stated, cutting Peter off and sounding distinctly rehearsed. “I meant that. You go back and forth all the time and that’s fine. You want to know what’s _not_ fine?”

“Calling you ‘Tony’ when I’m pissed at you and ‘Dad’ when I’m not?”

Tony blinked, eyebrows pinched together. “Um… yes.” He seemed too stunned to say whatever was supposed to come next.

Peter jumped on the opportunity to keep going. “I swear I understand and I really, really wasn’t trying to do that to you. I - Ben got really mad at me for that when I was younger. ‘Cause I only used ‘Uncle’ if I was in a good mood. I wasn’t… I wasn’t trying to. Just didn’t think about it at all, I guess. After he explained - he felt like it was manipulative and unkind - I tried really hard not to do that. Because I didn’t mean anything by it and I didn’t want him feeling like that. I promise I’m not trying to be, like, a jerk or something, you know? I don’t want you to think that I only think of you as my dad when it suits me or whatever.”

“Oh,” was all Tony said, nodding slightly. He still seemed a little taken aback. “Sorry for assuming.”

“No, you - I get it. I was annoyed and I’d been calling you ‘Dad’ more often lately. So… I get it. I’m sorry.” Peter ended with an awkward shrug, then breathed a sigh of relief when Tony pulled him into a tight hug. He hugged him back and felt as it if signified a mutual “I’m sorry” and “It’s ok”.

But even it was ok now, Peter may have just avoided calling Tony anything at for at least the next week.

If Tony noticed, he didn’t say anything.

-

It turned out people had been theorizing that Tony had actually adopted Spider-Man since the adoption news first hit. But those comments had been few and far between and not the kinds of things anyone was reporting on.

Peter had just missed it.

Tony said he’d assumed that Peter would’ve seen it himself like he’d seen just about everything else. And, once again, just like with everything else related to that, Tony just didn’t like to talk about it.

So that was another thing for Peter to sorry for. He really tried not to assume things about people and yte he had automatically assumed that Tony was purposefully keeping it from him.

Tony, of course, just told him to stop saying he was sorry all the time.

After that whole thing was passed, Peter actually thought they’d had a really good rest of the week.

First, Ned had come over for another sleepover - Tony joked that he was trying to just casually move in altogether - and the two of them had had a pretty fun night. It had mostly consisted of popcorn and video games but Ned and Tony had also listened sympathetically while Peter ranted about Mary Jane throughout dinner.

Tony had taken Peter out for ice cream the next evening and it actually hadn’t been a huge problem when a bunch of cameras showed up outside. Peter had only frozen up a little - prompting Tony to slide a pair of orange tinted glasses over Peter’s eyes - and after that he’d been ok. He even managed to smile a little. At least enough that he didn’t look like he was dying or something, which a concern he hadn’t been able to shake yet.

Definitely the best part of the week, however, was Saturday evening.

“Are we watching tv tonight?” Peter asked while they did the dishes after dinner. “I’m actually in more of a fantasy mood than sci-fi tonight. I was thinking we could watch them one show I started last year and never got around to finishing.”

“Sure, kid, whatever you feel like,” Tony replied easily, pulling open the dishwasher and stepping aside to make room for Peter to slip their plates in. “I just want to talk to you about something first. It’s a sort of a proposition.”

“Ok,” Peter said skeptically. “What?”

“Geez, kid, don’t be so suspicious. I just want to offer you a loan.”

The suspicion didn’t fade when Peter responded. “A loan? For what?”

“Your car,” Tony answered, smirking. “I’ll pay for it upfront and then you can save up through your newspaper selfies and pay me back in installments.”

“What’s the catch?” Peter questioned, narrowing his eyes. “Are you going to make me pay interest?”

Tony scoffed and swatted at Peter’s shoulder. “Why would I? I’m stupid rich. I don’t need to make a profit off of your car payments.”

“Ok, ok,” Peter laughed, darting out of the way of Tony’s hand. “But seriously, what’s the catch?”

“You want to know the catch? Fine.” Tony said with an exaggerated sigh. “I want you to pick something run down and in need of repair. We’ll fix it up together but it’ll be your project and we can do whatever you want to it. Well - within reason,” he added.

Peter’s face lit up as he nodded. “That sounds perfect! When can we go pick one out?”

“My word, you’re impatient,” Tony chuckled, reaching over to ruffle Peter’s hair, not worrying about his still slightly wet hands. “How about after school on Monday? I know a great place that has just about everything and at a good price. It’ll give you a lot of options.”

“Really? Monday? That’s really soon!” Peter gasped, eyes widening.

“Well, I guess we could do _next_ Monday if you -”

“No!” Peter cut him off quickly. “I just expected you to make me wait.”

Tony laughed and shook his head at Peter, ruffling his hair again even though he tried to squirm away. “Why bother? Besides, if we get it now we get to start working on it sooner. Now, do you want to go get your laptop and we can start looking at models and get an idea of what you want to look for?”

Peter frowned thoughtfully, then shook his head. “No, I think I’ll just wait and see what I feel drawn to or whatever.”

-

“Well,” Tony began, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking around the shop. “Feeling drawn to anything yet?”

Peter grinning and shook his head at Tony’s amused smirk. “Not yet. But we’ve only been here, like two seconds. So…” He shrugged and looked away from Tony and to the cars instead.

He’d been so excited to go that he’d called Tony when he started walking home from school, telling him to be ready to go when he got there because he didn’t want to sit around waiting. Tony had laughed about how impatient and bossy he was but was still ready to leave the second Peter got in the door so Peter wasn’t complaining.

Tony had been right about there being variety. As they looked at the rows of cars they could see all kinds of makes and models from all different years. Some were in better shape than others. Tony had told Peter he could pick any car there and he wasn’t sure how to go about it.

The shop was apparently organized by price, with the cheapest cars in the back. Those also looked to be the ones that were a little worse for wear.

So the question was what mattered more to Peter; picking a car he could be driving sooner or a car he could pay off faster?

“Let’s look in the back first,” he suggested, expecting Tony to say something about it being ok to look at the more expensive cars but instead he just nodded and followed Peter to the back, nodding at the shop’s owner.

Tony had come in before, enjoying the unpredictability of what kinds of cars he’d find and the potential they all had. He liked to buy brand new cars too - ones that no one else could hope to buy for at least a couple more years, assuming they could afford them. But the mechanic in him liked to buy a scrap of a car and fix it up too.

“Looking for anything in particular, kid?” Tony asked, tapping his fingers against the hood of a rusted third-generation Camaro.

Peter shook his head and glanced around, pushing his lips from one side to the other thoughtfully. He looked over at the row of motorcycles against the wall and tilted his head to the side. “Do _you_ have any motorcycles?”

“Yeah. I prefer a good sport car though,” Tony answered, following Peter’s gaze. He stayed where he was as Peter slipped between two cars to get a closer look. From his view, Tony wasn’t particularly impressed with them. “Hey, what do you think about the purple convertible over there? It’s kinda nice. Missing the back of the passenger seat but I bet we could do something pretty cool with it, huh?”

Peter glanced back at it and nodded mildly. “Yeah, it’s ok. I don’t think I want a purple car though.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot that painting cars isn’t a thing,” Tony deadpanned, rolling his eyes a little. “But ok, you’re unimpressed. There has to be something you like though.”

“Well…” Peter turned back toward the motorcycles.

“Uh, _no_ ,” Tony said before Peter could continue. “You got a license to drive a _car_. So you’re buying a _car_. Let me help you out here. Cars have four tires and a steering wheel. Oh, and multiple seats so you can, I don’t know, give your girlfriend a ride!”

And if those weren’t some of the most intentional puppy eyes Tony had ever seen…

“But I found a really, really cool one though,” Peter told him, making an obvious effort not to sound annoying. “And it’s way cheaper than the cars are too. At least come over here and look at it.”

Tony glared half-heartedly at his kid. He really tried to resist the puppy eyes but it was just too much… With a tired sigh, Tony threw his hands up at his sides and stepped through the space between the two cars Peter had gone by to get there. “Fine. Which one?”

Peter pointed at the one he liked with a hopeful smile. “It’s really cool.”

“Peter,” Tony began. “Is that a Primavera?”

“Um… if that means Vespa… then _yes_.”

“Kid, again, you’d need a motorcycle license. And I thought the whole point of this was that you wanted to give Mary Jane rides home so she stops going with Harry,” he reminded him.

Peter just shrugged, not taking his eyes off the beat up little Vespa. “You could totally fit two people on there.”

“And you think she’d rather sit on the back of a Vespa then get a whole seat to herself in a nice new car like Harry has? It’s November. The soonest you’d be driving this would be December. That means it’ll be cold and she really might prefer a ride with heat and a top, you know?”

“ _But_ ,” Peter started, not sounded even slightly discouraged. “Then if she says she’ll ride with me instead I won’t have to worry that she just likes my car better.”

Tony looked disbelievingly at Peter and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That is really not a logical concern with her. I keep telling you she likes you. And again, Peter, _license_.”

“Ok, so I’ll get a motorcycle license,” Peter responded, shrugging carelessly.

After considering fighting him on it more, Tony just sighed and pulled out his wallet. “Fine, fine. You can get the Vespa.”

Maybe the excited look on Peter’s face and grateful hug made it worth it.

But Tony was _not_ going to be the one giving Peter any more driving lessons, that was absolutely certain.

-

“So, he signed me up for actual lessons so I can get my license by the time it’s all fixed up and stuff,” Peter was saying to his friends at lunch the next day. “We’re keeping it in the corner in the workshop and we’re going to start working on ideas and stuff tonight while we eat ice cream.”

“What color is it?” Mary Jane asked, peeking over the top of her book.

“Well… kinda brown. Kinda orange. It’s really rusty…” Peter answered quietly, looking down at his food. “We’ll paint it though. When it’s all done.”

Mary Jane nodded and hummed thoughtfully. “You should paint it red.”

Ned gasped excitedly, eyes wide. “Yes! It should totally be red because you’re -”

“Iron Man’s kid?” Peter suggested through teeth clenched in a forced smile. Harry was sitting right there, after all. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Maybe add some gold detailing.”

“Real gold?” Harry asked. He didn’t sound suspicious at all, so that was good. “Or just gold paint?”

“Why would you put real gold on a Vespa?” Ned questioned before Peter could say anything. “It’s a Vespa.”

Harry shrugged, smiling easily. “It’s a conversation starter, for one thing. And it would definitely catch a person’s eye. I could see using a shiny Vespa with gold on it to pick up a hot girl.”

Peter furrowed his eyebrows in disapproval. “Don’t make it weird, Harry. And Ned, don’t say ‘Vespa’ like it’s a bad thing. ‘Cause it’s totally awesome.”

Ned chuckled but nodded in understanding. “Sure, Peter. Your Vespa is absolutely going to be the most awesome thing in the whole garage.”

“I don’t appreciate that tone, Ned,” Peter chided teasingly, nudging his best friend’s arm. “Just wait until we’re finished it because you’re going to realize that I was totally right you were totally wrong.”

When everyone started to get up from their tables, the considerate kids dumping their trash and uneaten food in the cans by the doors and the less well-mannered ones leaving theirs sitting around, Harry didn’t make any moves to leave the lunchroom.

Peter looked questioningly at him and Harry bit his lip, seemingly figuring out what he wanted to say.

“Uh… could you talk for a minute? Before your next class, I mean?”

Peter frowned and waved off Ned’s reminder that he’d been late for that class last time. “Sure. Everything ok?”

Harry shrugged, glancing at Ned and Mary Jane, who rolled her eyes and dragged Ned away. “I’m just kinda… unsure about something and I don’t have a lot of people I can talk to.”

“Ok. Well, I’m your friend. You can always talk to me, Harry. Seriously.”

His friend nodded, looking down at his hands rather than at Peter. “There’s been some… weird stuff going on with my dad’s company lately. I don’t know how much your dad says to you about Avengers stuff but… they know some of it.”

Peter tensed up, shaking a sharp breath through his nose. “Ok… um, I know some stuff, yeah.”

“Ok, so… I mean, you know about the people who were killed then?” Harry asked bluntly, though he kept his tone low to avoid being overheard even though no one was paying attention as they made their way to their classes.

“Um… I know people died, yeah.”

“They didn’t just die though, they were killed. And no one knows what happened exactly…” Harry shrugged. “My dad doesn’t talk to me about this stuff. Well, he doesn’t talk to me about much, actually. We aren’t… close. But I think this whole thing is bothering him a lot.”

Peter’s eyebrows pinched together as he nodded. He resisted the urge to tell Harry that he really didn’t want to talk about Norman.

 _Breathe_.

“I don’t see him at all now. I guess I don’t see him a whole lot anyway,” Harry sighed. “He’s working a lot and I don’t think he really has much interest in me. But I’m worried. This just feels… different.”

“So… what are you thinking?” Peter asked, cringing at his own question. He really had no idea what he was supposed to be saying.

Harry shrugged and scoffed bitterly. “I have no idea. I just… I hate going home after school. Here, at least I’m with you. And all the others too. I mean, I have friends here, you know? I feel like I can talk to you and I actually smile and have a good time when I’m around you and your friends. I never smile at home, Pete. _Peter_ , sorry,” he corrected immediately. “Maybe it’s just always going to be like that but I used to think maybe one day my dad would care, you know? Maybe one day he’d ask, ‘how was your day, Harry?’ and just… be an actual dad. And now I think he’s really going through some hard stuff with this because one thing we know is that whoever’s killing people has some connection to the company. They think someone was making this, like, serum or something and it’s doing pretty screwed up stuff to someone but they don’t know who. I bet that would be hard, right? As the head of a company?”

Peter nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’ll bet it is.”

_In and out. Breathe._

“So, like, I want to help him somehow but what the heck can I possibly do?”

Peter shrugged helplessly. “I… I wish I knew what to say. Um… if it would help, maybe you and I can try and spend more time just hanging out, you know? Like, without Ned and Mary Jane and whoever. We can just talk.”

“Nah, I mean, I know you all kinda do everything together. I’m just glad I get to be a part of it sometimes,” Harry chuckled. It sounded empty. “I really didn’t have a friend before I met you, you know? I’m not trying to get you to do anything.”

“You’re not though,” Peter insisted, smiling encouragingly. “I might not know what to say or do about this but you’re my friend and I care about you. I - I want to help you however I can, even if it’s just being there to listen. So there’s this cool movie theater that plays old movies and they’re having a David Fincher marathon this week. They’re all must sees to you pick which one sounds the best and we’ll go after school that day to see it, ok? Then we’ll get hot dogs because they’re your favorite and we can talk or just hang out. Whatever you want. Ok, Harry?”

There was only silence at first as Harry looked at Peter like he’d never seen him before or something. Peter tried his best not to squirm awkwardly.

“Ok,” Harry said finally, smiling so genuinely that Peter wondered if he’d ever _really_ seen him smile before then. “Thanks, Peter. Sometimes I think maybe it’s just because I’ve never had another one but… you’re a really great friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, everyone!
> 
> Sorry for the wait but we should be back on a once a week schedule now. Still trying to finish writing but I'm really hoping I'll finish before my posting schedule catches up to me!
> 
> I hope you're all having a lovely holiday season! ^-^


	40. Chapter Forty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I changed my name! It’s still me! Sorry if it’s confusing or jarring or anything but... yeah. New year, new name apparently. ;D

“And you’re telling me that you think… what, that Osborn is experimenting on his employees?”

Peter shrugged and shook his head a little. “I have no idea. I just know what Harry told me and he doesn’t think his dad is involved at all but… I mean, he’s evil so what are the odds that there are evil things happening in his company and he’s not part of it?”

“No, I agree,” Tony muttered, nodding thoughtfully.

As soon as Peter had gotten home from school, he’d told Tony all about his conversation with Harry. He’d been half concerned about how Harry had been saying and half worried about his friend, though he kept most of that part to himself since Tony really didn’t care about Harry’s well being.

“Let me make sure I’ve got all of this,” Tony said, going over to the kitchen to get something to drink. He stared in the fridge for a few minutes before sighing quietly and pulling out the grape juice. “Harry never sees Norman, someone at Oscorp is making some kind of serum, it’s probably what’s making the Goblin, and we think Osborn is the one making it, yes?”

Peter nodded, reaching his hand out for the juice once Tony had finished pouring his own glass.

“Don’t drink it out of the bottle,” Tony muttered absent-mindedly, still mostly focused on Osborn.

“I’m not,” Peter assured him, rolling his eyes but grinning as he went to get out a cup for himself. “So, do we want to call the Avengers and talk to them about all this?”

Tony sighed a little and took a long drink of his juice. “We probably should. Yeah, I’ll ‘em. You go do your homework. If they don’t want us to drive out there, we’ll watch a movie when you’re finished, ok?”

“Ok,” Peter agreed, finishing off his juice and rinsing the cup out. “Let me know what they say, yeah? Oh hey, before I go to my room, I wanted to ask something.”

“Shoot.”

“Um, so when I meet up with Harry, so you want me to try and find out more?”

Tony sighed again, thinking it over. Then he shook his head, frowning slightly. “No. You’re friends, even if I will never understand that. I’m not going to ask you do that, ok? Besides, I doubt he even knows very much else, assuming he knows anything else at all. So you don’t have to worry about that, ok? If he brings it up, ok. Don’t feel like you have to get information.”

Peter smiled gratefully and left the room to go get started on his schoolwork.

As soon as he was gone, Tony took a deep breath, preparing himself to deal with whoever answered, before telling FRIDAY to call the Avengers.

A transparent screen opened above the kitchen counter as the call dialed, showing only a ringing phone icon over a dark screen. It was on the third ring when it was finally answered and Tony was met with a flustered Bruce Banner, protective goggles pushed up just over his forehead and making his graying hair stick out at odd angles.

“Hi, Tony,” he exhaled heavily. “Sorry, I was working with some chemicals and I wanted to get them properly set aside before I answered. How are things?”

“Things are fine,” Tony told him with an amused smirk, crossing his arms and leaning back against the opposite counter. “I was just calling to give someone a sort of an update on the Oscorp-Goblin thing.”

Bruce raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Oh, ok. Should I get someone else or…?”

“Why? I’ll just tell you.”

“Sure, why not?” Bruce chuckled, shrugging and tugging the goggles off his head. “So what’s the update? Any chance it’s good news?”

Tony gave a noncommittal grunt. “Just theories, more like.”

“Planning to share?” Bruce sighed in that deceptively patient way of his.

After considering drawing it out just to be annoying, Tony decided he had better ways to spend his time. “Peter was talking to Osborn’s kid and he’s pretty sure the Goblin is an Oscorp employee and is being experimented on by Osborn himself. That pretty much sums it up.”

Bruce hummed consideringly and nodded. “I can’t think of anything to counter that theory but if we don’t have any solid proof it doesn’t do much to move things forward either, does it? Do you want to try and find out who it is or focus more on what’s being done to them exactly?”

“Peter told me Harry said something a serum. But what’s in it and what it’s intent was, I have no clue. I’d like to think Osborn _wasn’t_ attempting to make a literal monster but maybe he wanted company.”

“Do you want to come by and talk about it everyone? Or - well, everyone who’s here.”

“Oh, there was a mission in South America, wasn’t there?” Tony asked, speaking more to himself as he remembered hearing about it before. “Who’s still around?”

“Well, Steve is still around and we’ve got Clint and… hang on, Tony,” Bruce trailed off, his expression pinched with concern. He stepped away from the screen so all Tony could see was one of his shoulders.

“Bruce, what’s happening?” Tony questioned but didn’t get an answer right away. Instead, Bruce left completely.

Tony huffed impatiently, frustrated that he wasn’t getting any information. Normally, Tony would chalk it up to Bruce just being temporarily distracted, which was something that happened sometimes.

But this time, Bruce had looked far too worried for it to be something that didn’t matter.

He thought he could hear Steve and - was that Sam? - talking with Bruce just far enough away that he couldn’t hear them. Tony was just about to shout at them to tell him what was going on when he heard Peter coming back in from his room.

“Dad, we have to go,” Peter said urgently just as Bruce finally got back into the frame, looking more frazzled than before.

“Tony, they’re going to need your help. There’s something going on around the shopping center near the tower and -”

“It’s the Goblin!” Peter interrupted, not sounding at all like he wanted to sit and listen to Bruce. “Dad, get your suit on! We have to go stop him from hurting anyone!”

Tony looked from his son and back at the screen. “Who’s coming?”

“Steve is coming to help with Clint, Sam, and Rhodes,” Bruce answered hurriedly. “We think Scott is in the area. We’re trying to get ahold of him and see if he can help. You two go and start trying to assess the situation. There’s only so much we can get from Twitter.”

Tony nodded once, ending the call and looking back over to Peter. “Go get your _own_ suit on! We have to go.”

Peter nodded rapidly and rushed back towards his room.

“FRIDAY, tell me what you know,” Tony commanded, making his way to his workshop as he tried to decide which suit would be best for the situation.

“The Goblin is targeting the shopping center nearby. He appears to have grown since your last encounter with him,” FRIDAY informed Tony. “His motive in unclear but he is definitely a threat to anyone on the scene.”

“Is he on the glider?” Tony asked sharply as his chosen suit encased him, just at the same time that Peter hurried in to meet him, suit on and mask in hand.

“Yes, boss,” FRIDAY answered.

Tony looked over to Peter. “Ready to go?”

Peter nodded surely and pulled the mask on over his face, waiting to follow Tony out into the city sky.

-

“Well,” Peter sighed through the comm link connecting him to Tony. “I guess this could be worse.”

“That’s… ok, that’s true,” Tony acknowledged, hovering over the shopping center and taking in the situation. “We _still_ need to stop it though.”

FRIDAY hadn’t been kidding when she said that the Goblin’s motive was unclear. From what they were seeing, it really just looked as if he wanted to terrorize people.

He was definitely succeeding.

“FRIDAY, scan him. What’s different?” Tony asked his AI, squinting at the results popping up in his line of vision. She was right about the Goblin being bigger too. He’d grown at least another foot and his muscle mass had increased significantly. Not only that, he’d enhanced his glider and it appeared to be weaponized. “Wait, what’s going on with his heat signature?”

Before FRIDAY answered - or maybe she had and he just didn’t notice - Peter was swinging up towards Goblin and yelling _some_ kind of taunt at him.

“ _Spider-Man_ ,” Tony snapped, flying after him.

Goblin’s attention turned to Spider-Man in an instant, a sickening grin spreading over his face. The look made Tony’s blood run cold but Peter’s didn’t seem fazed, shooting a web at the glider and attempting to launch him towards the closest section of the roof.

Unfortunately, the glider was stronger than before and managed to hold it’s place firmly in the air, giving Goblin the chance to reach down and grab the web, flinging Spider-Man away instead.

It didn’t do much as Spider-Man was able to use his webs to slow his descent and change course, landing safely on the top of what Tony thought might have been a taco truck.

“The Goblin’s temperature is rising at a dangerous rate,” FRIDAY reported.

“Dangerous to who?” Tony questioned, trying to plan his next move.

“Unclear, boss. But it’s unlikely that it’s himself.”

Tony groaned in frustration. “Peter, we need to get these people out of danger.”

There were still crowds of people practically swarming around. Most of them didn’t even seem to be considering trying to escape from the danger. The ones who _were_ trying to drive away were blocked by all the other people standing around in the streets while they tried to get a good view.

“Ok,” Peter said, standing up on the truck and looking up at the Goblin but not moving yet. “Are we getting the people to safety or getting the Goblin out of the area?”

Tony opened his mouth but closed it again without saying anything. He wasn’t prepared to say they could realistically do either one before the other Avengers got there.

On the one hand, there were too many people and they were too chaotic for them to hope to actually get them somewhere safe. And where would that be anyway? And on the other hand, even if they got the Goblin away from the shopping center they would just be leading somewhere else where there would certainly be more people.

“Connecting to the Avengers,” FRIDAY announced in Tony’s ear.

“Iron Man, do we have a plan of action?” Steve asked suddenly.

Tony looked up and saw the quinjet arriving, both Rhodey and in the air next to it. Sam swooped down to a ledge on the shopping center, pointing his guns at the Goblin, who was still grinning creepily.

“Uh… yeah. We need to make sure no one gets hurt and try and apprehend the Goblin,” Tony answered, brushing aside the notice that Steve was asking for _his_ plan without even trying to take over first. “We don’t want to kill him but I’m not ruling it out yet either.”

“Got it,” Rhodey said, flying straight toward the Goblin and firing on him, succeeding mainly in angering him further.

And then - shocking all of them - the Goblin literally burst into flames. Actual fire… blazing across his leathery green skin.

“Hang on, Tony, what is _this_ about?” Rhodey shouted, flying a couple of feet backwards. “Could he do that before?”

“Oh no,” Goblin actually _chuckled_. “This is new.”

“Yeah, because that’s not creepy at all,” Peter muttered through the comms.

Tony glanced down at him. He was still standing on the taco truck and from his loose stance and tilted head, he struck Tony as more curious than creeped out.

“I can try and hit him with a Freezing Arrow if I can get a clear shot,” Clint chimed in. “I’m just not sure if it’ll work.”

“It’s worth a shot right?” Peter asked. Tony pictured him shrugging as he said it and glanced back down to see if he was right. _And_ of course, Peter had left the truck.

Tony’s eyes darted around until he spotted the red and blue figure crawling up the side of the building closest to the Goblin. The same Goblin who looked to be forming balls of fire around his hands. He figured it was safe to say he didn’t get to choose but Tony really didn’t want to know what he was planning on doing with those.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Goblin threw the fire at the building, clearly even Peter’s direction even though he dodged it easily. The window next to him shattered when the flames hit it, evoking more screams from the bystanders.

The second he’d regained his balance, Spider-Man jumped into the window, avoiding the jagged shards.

“Everyone’s ok in here,” Tony heard him say from inside the building. “There was a little fire but someone grabbed an extinguisher.”

“Stay inside,” Tony ordered automatically, ignoring his protests since he stayed inside anyway. “Cap, we need to stop this guy. I don’t want to antagonize him and put people in more danger. Ideas?”

There was a beat before he heard an answer. “Yeah. I want to get in there and help Spider-Man get everyone out.”

“Good call,” Tony said tersely. “Get in there. Everyone else, we need to clear people out of the area and try and keep Goblin occupied at the same time. FRIDAY, why are there not more police involved here? Call someone or something.”

“Dialing, Boss.”

There were already a few officers trying to clear the streets and keep any more people from driving up the shopping center. It didn’t take long after calling them for more to arrive. Some hurried inside to help evacuate the building while others tried to set up barricades to keep the people back. Others tried to make sure they could get a clear shot at the Goblin the second they got word to open fire.

The Goblin’s amused demeanor as he continued to hover around was infuriating. He wasn’t making any other move but he’d already thrown a fireball at the building - at _Peter_ \- so Tony wasn’t prepared to just assume he wasn’t going to do anything.

His guess was that the Goblin, or whoever he really was, was calculating what to do next. That, or he had a plan already and was waiting for something.

“D - Iron Man,” Peter said through the comms. “There are a lot of people in here. Do you want us to get them all outside or just try and keep them safe? What’s Goblin doing?”

Tony looked down to see the progress the others had made with the police, getting everyone out of the way.

“Get ‘em somewhere safe,” he answered. “Try and keep it all under control. We don’t want any more chaos than we already have. This guy could do a lot of damage.”

“Got it,” Peter replied compliantly.  

“Rhodey,” Tony sighed. “We need to try and take out the glider. It’s clearly been weaponized and I don’t know what with so this is a little risky but I want to get it out of the picture.”

His friend’s muted armor flew up beside his flashier suit. “Just tell me what to do,” Rhodey said.

“Well… let’s try and get him higher up and start shooting.”

Rhodey gave him a nod and they both flew towards the Goblin, repulsors ready.

-

“The fights coming inside,” Tony’s voice came urgently through the comms.

Peter turned his head to look at Steve, whose expression was set and unreadable unless Peter wanted to spend time thinking about it.

He didn’t.

They’d been getting people to gather in the backs of the various stores, trying to make sure they’d be somewhat secure and out of the way in case this happened.

“Shut the gates,” Peter told Steve, glancing over at Clint who had just run in to help and nodding as if to say it went for him too.

“In front of the stores?” Steve questioned, probably raising his eyebrows. It was hard to tell under his cowl.

Peter nodded hurriedly and went to shut the gate in front of the store closest to him. Since most of the stores were small with open fronts, they had metal gates to pull shut at closing time and Peter figured a little extra barricade between the people and, say, a _fireball,_ would be good. “Don’t worry,” he said to the people in the store as he shut them in, trying hard not to let to rapid beating of his heart in his chest be at all noticeable through his voice. “We’re just trying to keep you safe. Maybe get on the floor and cover your heads - just in case.”

Tony and the Goblin could be heard fighting just around the corner, crashing into things loudly.

Peter moved quickly to the next shop and looked over to see Steve and Clint following suit. Luckily, most people had already either gone outside to watch or left altogether before they even got there so they hadn’t needed to get too many people inside.

“Iron Man, status report?” Steve requested and Peter stilled, waiting for an answer.

“Fire outside -” a pained grunt “- Rhodes is taking care of it. I took out one of the thrusters on the glider.”

“Sam and Scott?”

Sam’s voice answered him. “We’re helping with the fire. Is everyone safe in there?”

Peter didn’t like that they had apparently paused for conversation while Tony was audibly still fighting _right over there._ He was itching to go help but Clint was holding a hand out to him, trying to get him to just wait. Maybe they’d be needed outside with the others. Iron Man could handle this guy on his own if he had to, right?

Just then, both Tony and the Goblin came soaring around the corner, the Goblin’s glider smoking profusely from one side as Tony tried to physically wrestle him off of it.

Out of instinct, Peter shot a web towards them, catching the glider and holding onto his web with both hands. It yanked them to a halt, though they both stayed in the air and fell apart from each other. Peter thought he heard some people screaming behind the gates but he was a little distracted…

The Goblin started to burn again, flames building on his back and hands and spreading from there. One of Clint’s Freezing Arrows shot towards him, hitting him just under the left shoulder blade.

Goblin roared in frustration as the flames fizzled out. He tore the arrow from his back and tossed it aside, already starting to burn again, melting the ice from his body.

“Worth a try,” Clint muttered. He glanced at Steve questioningly. “Now what?”

With only one side of the glider operating properly, it was unstable in the air. It almost looked like they could knock him to the ground without much work but Peter was pretty sure it wouldn’t be that easy.

“We have to try and get him back out,” Steve answered, sounding unsure.

“Great,” Tony snapped from above them, aiming a repulsor and trying to take out the other side of the glider. “Any ideas as to how?”

“You won’t succeed in _getting_ me anywhere,” the Goblin announced with a frightening confidence. He didn’t seem to talk much but Peter got the feeling he only did when he had something he really wanted to say. As if his words were too important to toss around carelessly. “I never do anything without a plan; a goal to achieve.”

“Care to tell us what that is?” Peter shouted up at him. He noticed Iron Man looking down at him and imagined he was probably rolling his eyes. “Maybe we can help you achieve your goal without endangering innocent people!”

The Goblin grinned down at him, putting his guard down long enough for Tony to make another move before Goblin had even responded.

A solid shot from Iron Man’s repulsors at Goblin’s arm had the giant green man howling in pain and anger, attention back on Tony. Not a second later, giving Tony no time to see it coming, his massive clawed hand lunged forward and latched onto Tony’s armoured legs.

Peter froze, eyes widening under his mask, as he heard the metal bend and crunch in ways it shouldn’t. That mixed with the sounds of Tony’s cries of pain, both mechanized coming from his suit and horrifically clear through the comm in Peter’s ear, was easily one of the worst things he’d ever heard.

His first instinct was to stop the Goblin; save his dad somehow. But when he tried to run forward, Steve grabbed his arm and yanked him back, taking hold of his other arm as well.

“Steve, let me go!” Peter yelled, fighting against the soldier but never taking his eyes off Tony and he and the Goblin moved farther away from where he stood.

Why did this building have to be so _big_ and give Goblin so much room to increase the distance between Peter and his dad?

“You need to stand down,” Steve ordered, right by Peter’s covered ear as he held the struggling teenager firmly against his chest. “I’m trying to help you.”

“Then let _go of me_!” He begged, feeling tears streaming down his cheeks, becoming absorbed in the material of his mask.

Iron Man struggled against Goblin as he was smashed hard into the wall and absolutely pummeled. The Goblin seemed to be trying to pull Tony apart and beat him down to a smaller size at the same time.

“Hawkeye!” Steve barked, still fighting to keep Peter back. His grip was hard enough that it would’ve left bruises on anyone else. Actually, it still might…

“On it,” Clint replied, already notching an arrow and moving closer to where the Goblin and Tony were. He shot a number of arrows while they fought, all hitting Goblin but not many making a difference. Some bounced off while others lodged into his flesh and only looked as if they irritated him.

Still, Clint followed as they moved farther away and continued to fire his arrows.

As hard as he fought to, choking on his own sobs as he kicked and pulled against Steve’s hold on him, Peter was unable to follow as well. Instead, it felt like Steve was trying to drag him in the opposite direction. Really, he was only pulling him to the wall so Steve had something to brace himself against while he held on.

“Spider-Man,” Steve said firmly. “I can’t let you go when you’re like this. You’re hyperventilating and you won’t be able to help him like this.”

Suddenly, Tony wasn’t making noise anymore. Goblin was apparently satisfied, dropping Iron Man and jetting off, shattering through the skylight and going back into the sky.

“I’m tailing him,” Rhodey told them through the comms, presumably flying after the Goblin.

Iron Man crashed into the cheap tile on the food court with a sickening clang, echoing off the walls.

Peter thought he could actually feel his heart stop. Tony wasn’t moving.

“Dad!” The scream tore from his throat before he even had a chance to think about it. It must of stunned Steve enough for his grip to loosen and Peter was finally able to rip one arm loose.

“Peter, stop,” Steve tried.

“ _You_ , stop!” Peter cut him off, turning to face him and trying to yank away his other arm. “He’s my dad!”

When Steve didn’t let go, Peter pulled his fist back and socked Steve in the jaw. The second his fist struck, his other arm was free and Steve was stumbling back, hand flying to his jaw and eyes widening.

Peter didn’t hesitate to run to Tony, who was still lying unmoving in the food court, Clint now at his side and trying to get his mask open.

“Dad? Dad!” Peter cried hoarsely when he got to the tables, pushing them and the rickety metal chairs out of his way, not wanting to take the time to try and weave through them.

“Peter, he’s -” Clint’s brow furrowed as he cut off his own sentence, looking down at Tony. “Wait, he’s moving.”

“He is?” Peter breathed and skidded to a halt. His feet had stopped working for some reason. He wasn’t sure if his heart had _started_ working again… And was he even breathing?

_In and -_

No time.

Tony was struggling to his feet, gasping as he made himself move. The suit was a mess; mangled, bent, and scuffed worse than Peter had seen before. Clint had apparently gotten the faceplate up - probably got FRIDAY to listen to him and help. Assuming she was even still online after everything...

He didn’t want to think about what his dad looked like underneath that.

“K - kid,” Tony coughed as he got up to one knee, using his fists to push himself up off the ground. “Peter.”

“Dad,” Peter sobbed and rushed forward to meet Tony halfway once he was on his feet.

No one could really say which of them grabbed the other first but within moments they were grasping desperately at each other as if their lives depended on it. Both of them seemed to be spewing words without thinking; mostly just ‘Peter’, ‘Dad’, ‘scared’, and ‘safe’.

Tony’s armored fingers came up to the back of Peter’s head, pulling him closer to his chest. They were both breathing hard but for mostly different reasons. After another minute of just holding each other as they could with Tony’s armor in the way, both crying, Tony pulled back just a little.

He held the sides of Peter’s still masked face and Peter’s hands came up to his wrists, holding his hands in place. “It’ll be ok, kid,” he said, his voice scratchy and painful in his throat. “I’ve got you.”

Suddenly, he was slumping forward onto Peter, his head falling onto the teenager’s shoulder and arms slumping to the sides as Peter’s immediately wrapped around his chest, knees buckling momentarily under the unexpected weight.

Before Peter really had time to react besides gasping and latching on, Clint came over to help hold Tony up. He tried to take over completely but Peter wouldn’t let go.

Clint didn’t try to make him.

“What - what do we do?” Peter asked, his voice broken and low as he tried not to keep sobbing.

“I - uh, I’m not sure yet,” Clint answered honestly. He glanced back at Steve, who was obviously trying to keep out of the way, still massaging his sore - and probably swollen - jaw. “Steve?”

Steve’s eyes snapped up to them, surprise evident on his partially covered face. “Well, uh, we have to get those people out of here.” He gestured back with his thumb. “They’re still locked in the stores a ways back. We don’t know what the damage is outside… and Tony - Tony needs medical attention.”

Peter squeezed his eyes shut and told himself it wasn’t worth it to snap at Steve about how _obvious_ that was.

“We should get him to the nearest hospital,” Steve suggested, trying to sound confident. Peter got the feeling he was also trying _not_ to sound overbearing. “I can… I can take him.”

“No,” Peter snapped, still not looking at Steve. “I’m not letting you take him away.”

“I’m not trying to,” Steve assured him earnestly, holding his hands up in some attempt to look non-threatening. “You can come too, all right? We just - we need to get him somewhere else. The compound would be idea but I’m worried it’s too far.”

Clint sighed and nodded. “Steve’s right, Spider-Kid. He needs to be looked at now. You two take the quinjet and maybe try and get him out of the suit on the way to the hospital. It’ll be hard for them to do anything if he’s still in it.”

Peter resisted the urge to groan in frustration. None of this should’ve happened. His dad should be fine.

_Breathe. Breathe. Breathe._

“What about you?” He asked Clint, hoping his tone wasn’t really as sharp as it sounded in his own ears. “Why can’t you and I take him?” _Why Steve?_

“I’m going to stay here and help everyone get out in a calm and orderly manner. Then I’m going to round up Sam and Scott and we’re going to help clean this mess up. Maybe give Rhodey a hand if he needs it.”

Peter’s eyes narrowed under his mask. He wanted to point out that there was no reason that Clint and Steve couldn’t just switch those roles but Clint was already passing Tony and subsequently Peter, who was literally stuck to the Iron Man suit at that point, over to Steve.

They didn’t have time to argue. Tony needed help.

_In and out._

“Fine,” Peter gritted out.

Steve nodded and offered a brief smile that could’ve been meant to communicate all kinds of things. Peter didn’t care enough to try and decipher the meaning behind it.

They started to walk back the way they’d come through the building, sharing Tony’s weight between them. Clint walked with them until they got to the stretch of stores they’d left the people in. Then he went to start unlocking the gates and helping to calm everyone down.

Peter wondered briefly how much they’d been able to hear from where they were. It didn’t take long for him to decide to worry about it later.

They got to the jet in decent time and Steve reached down to lift Tony’s feet instead so they could set him on the medical cot that came down from one of the sides once they’d gotten inside. Peter hadn’t really looked at Tony’s legs until then. If he had to guess, getting the suit off wouldn’t be easy unless Tony had installed some ability for the suit to reshape itself.

From the mangled state of his legs - Peter was pretty sure the right leg was bent entirely wrong - it was a wonder he’d managed to get up at all. It must’ve hurt…

They set the jet to autopilot so they could just worry about Tony.

“Peter…” Steve said gently, setting a hesitant hand on Peter’s shoulder only to be shrugged off immediately. He sighed but pulled his hand back, crossing his arms somewhat awkwardly. “I understand that you’re scared. But we’re going to help him get through this, understand? You have to try and be strong for him so you can help too.”

Peter didn’t respond, eyes not leaving Tony’s damaged face. It was red in some places and purple-ish in others, a nasty cut by his left eye. Peter hated how hurt Tony could still be inside his suit but figured it would’ve been a lot worse without it… so that was something to be grateful about.

He realized that his bottom lip had started to quiver. He was crying again.

With a huff of annoyance, he tore off his mask and tossed it aside, rubbing at his wet eyes with his gloved hands. He probably looked like a total wreck but it didn’t really matter, did it?

“Peter,” Steve tried again.

Still neglecting to respond to Steve, Peter dropped to the floor, legs crossed. One of Tony’s arms had fallen over the edge of the cot and Peter grasped it desperately between both of his hands, resting his forehead against his dad’s arm.

“Don’t want to talk,” he muttered through fresh tears, then tuning Steve out. He was vaguely aware of him saying something in reply and then just trying to get FRIDAY to work and help get the suit off.

At some point, Peter thought it sounded like Steve was just trying to pry it off.

Whatever had ended up working, Peter didn’t know. But by the time they’d landed all of the armor was off of Tony and piled in the vacant pilot’s chair instead. Peter had only sort of noticed when he had to let go of Tony long enough to free his arm of his suit.

Steve - or someone - had apparently called the hospital already so they were there with a stretcher as soon as the jet was landed. They tried to tell Steve and Peter - who Steve had made change into jeans and a sweatshirt before they came out - that they could just go to the waiting room but Peter insisted that he had to stay with Tony. They had clearly been going to protest but Steve had stepped in and said they just wanted to be there while they got Tony to his room and then they wanted to talk to a doctor about what had to be done. After that, they’d see about leaving the room.

It was one of those very rare times that Peter appreciated the world’s unwillingness to argue with the oh-so amazing Captain America.

Once they finally got into the room they were moving Tony to, Peter tuned his surroundings out again. Everyone was talking at once and it was just too much to think about. He’d ask Steve later what the doctors had said.

Instead of choosing to listen or join in all the talking, he grabbed the chair in the corner and dragged it right up next the head of the bed they had Tony on. He sat down and folded his arms on the mattress, right next to Tony’s shoulder, and buried his face in the crook of his elbow. It was as close as they’d let him be, which was still pretty close. He wondered if Steve had said something again…

They wouldn’t let him touch Tony while they examined him, taking note of the damage and figuring out what they’d need to do. As long as Peter kept at least a little space between himself and his dad, they just worked around him.

It was only when he felt the heavy weight of a hand on the back of his shoulder that he noticed it had gone quiet. The bustling had stopped. No one was talking.

He peeked up over his arms, blinking away tears to clear his vision. He didn’t see anyone anymore.

“Hey there,” Steve’s voice came from behind him. It was his hand, of course. “You holding up ok?”

Peter made himself sit up a little but only enough to comfortably turn his head enough to look back at Steve. “Where’d they go?”

“Oh,” he said, seeming surprised. “You weren’t listening, then? I wondered.”

Peter stared at him and waited for an actual answer.

Steve cleared his throat and nodded, pulling his hand back. “They’re preparing an operating room. He’s pretty bad off but the legs especially. They need to do some… resetting and things.”

“You don’t sound like you know what you’re talking about,” Peter muttered, barely moving his mouth. He looked back down at Tony’s unmoving face again. “I’m not going to leave him.”

“Peter…” Steve sighed, pulling a chair next to Peter’s and sitting down. He rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together under his chin. “They can’t do everything they need to with you right there. You know that.”

Peter bit his lip. “Ok, then I can just sit at the back of the room. I’ll stay out of their way, really, but I just can’t -”

“No, you _can_ ,” Steve interrupted, voice strained as he tried to stay patient. “You don’t want to. It’s different. I get it, really, but it’s not the same thing. I’ll stay with you in the waiting area. I’ll tell them we need an update every - I don’t know, every ten minutes, ok? And you can be right back here the second they’re through.”

There were more tears trailing down Peter’s cheeks by then. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Tony and couldn’t seem to choke out any words. Instead, he just shook his head determinedly.

“Listen,” Steve practically groaned. “I wish I could say that you could stay with him. But that isn’t my call. I asked - believe me, I _asked_ , and they don’t want you in there. They won’t be able to get everything done that they need to get done if there’s a kid sitting there the whole time.”

Peter didn’t say anything.

“If they can’t work with you there,” Steve started again after a moment. “Then they can’t help him. If they can’t help him, he gets worse. If he gets worse -”

“What are you saying?” Peter demanded quietly, finally turning his head to face Steve. “That if I won’t leave him then I’m - I’m hurting him more? You’re saying if he doesn’t get help, he’ll die and it’ll be my fault?”

Steve’s eyes widened. “I - no, that’s not exactly what I was trying to communicate there but -”

“Fine,” Peter said like it physically hurt. “Fine, I’ll go. I… I don’t want to hurt him.”

The captain’s expression softened and nodded, exhaling in a quiet sigh of relief. “I know you don’t. Come on, let’s get out of their hair. Sooner we go, sooner they fix Tony up.”

He nudged Peter’s upper arm gently to get him to stand. It took another long moment of just watching Tony before he finally complied, sliding the chair back a little with his foot before he followed Steve out to the waiting area, bunching his sleeves around his hands and wishing he could melt into the floor or something.

The hospital wasn’t somewhere Peter was enjoying being in. Although, under the current circumstances he couldn’t image being particularly glad to be anywhere.

But the hospital was pretty awful. He’d never liked being in any kind of medical facility and wondered if anyone _really_ did. It felt unfamiliar and disconnected… everything was clean but still felt contaminated in some way. Peter felt like he could look at anything and imagine how often they cleaned and disinfected it but then image how many sick people had touched that very same thing and it made him uncomfortable to think about.

It wasn’t that he thought he’d get sick or anything… It just made him think too much.

No one really bothered them as they made their way to the back of the waiting area where there were two empty chairs right next to each other. There were people scattered throughout the room, each with their own problem. Some of them, Peter figured, were waiting while a loved one was looked after. Others were sick or hurt and waiting until they could be taken care of.

Looking around at all of their faces, Peter felt that his theory was confirmed. No one liked being there.

Everyone looked tired, dejected, or annoyed.

The good side of that was that no one was paying he and Steve any attention.

He glanced at Steve was they sat down and saw that he’d gotten into regular day clothes as well. He must’ve left to change at some point before Peter had to leave Tony because Peter was sure he’d come into the building in his suit. It was better this way though… Less conspicuous.

People would find out that Tony was hurt, sure. But Peter would rather they didn’t swarm in to try and get information and pictures so soon.

“What are you thinking?” Steve asked suddenly and Pete realized he had sighed loudly for at least the third time since they got to the waiting area.

“Just… I’m really uncomfortable.” His knee was bouncing and his hands had completely disappeared under his sleeves. The sweatshirt was one of his Midtown ones. He didn’t know why it even _been_ on the jet but the Avengers tended to like to be prepared so he wasn’t really surprised. “How long will it be?”

Steve shrugged a little. “I wish I knew. I don’t think even the doctors know for certain.”

Peter frowned and leaned his head back against the wall. “He…” He cleared his throat when his voice cracked and tried again. “He won’t die, will he?”

“Peter, you know that there’s no way for me to know that,” Steve answered carefully. “I’d like to think not. I want him to live as much as you do, son.”

“I’m not your son,” Peter muttered bitterly and looked down at his crossed arms.

“That’s not what I -”

Suddenly, listening to Steve’s response didn’t sound so appealing and Peter’s eyes snapped up to meet the captain’s. “I’m _his_ son. I don’t really care how you feel about that, it’s just the way it is. He - _he’s_ my dad and you don’t get to call me that. And you _don’t_ understand how I feel right now because you _can’t_. Nothing else matters anymore if he - if I lose… He’s all I have and you don’t get it, Steve.”

It was a wonder Peter managed to keep his voice down and not draw too much attention. Still, the lowered tone he was using made his voice come out ever more choked and broken as even more tears welled up in his eyes.

He felt like his heart was beating too fast. He felt too hot. Everything was just flooding through him and it felt like he might break at any second.

Steve looked stunned but there was something else too… maybe understanding but Peter found that hard to believe.

Peter’s eyes burned as he fought to keep the tears in. He’d cried enough already and probably ruined his mask because of it. Tony was going to be _so_ thrilled that they’d have to clean it again and… Well, Peter figured he’d rather have Tony be upset at him than just be unmoving and broken…

It occurred to Peter then that he had lost the battle with his tears…

When he lifted his fisted sleeves to wipe at his eyes he felt Steve’s still hesitant hands go to his shoulders. And this time, Peter just gave in and let Steve pull him closer, arms wrapping around each other. Peter held on tightly as if Steve was some kind of lifeline just for that moment. Steve’s hold seemed reassuring somehow and made Peter feel safer. It wasn’t the same kind of safety that came with hugging Tony but this was good too…

Basically… Peter wouldn’t have guessed that Captain America would be so good at giving hugs.


	41. Chapter Forty-One

All Peter could think when a nurse came out to tell he and Steve that Tony was back in the regular hospital room, surgery had been successful, and they were allowed back in was, “ _f_ _inally._ ”

Tony wasn’t awake yet but they’d done everything that had to be done - which had included a lot of stitches, resetting of numerous bones, and the extraction of some broken pieces of his suit in his legs that Steve hadn’t been able to get off with the rest of it - and said that it was ok for him to have visitors as long as they just let him rest.

It might have taken a few minutes of standing in the doorway before Peter actually walked back into the room. Even then, it took a gentle shove between the shoulder blades from Steve.

They’d been sitting in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs for hours - Peter had lost track of how many when he fell asleep with his head slumped embarrassingly against Steve’s shoulder - and all he’d thought about was how badly he wanted to be back with Tony. They’d gotten updates every now and then but they hadn’t ever had much to say other than something along the lines of, “it’s going well.”

 _All_ he’d wanted was to see his dad.

Except now that he did… he wasn’t sure he didn’t want to just leave.

There were monitors and wires and tubes all around the bed. An oxygen mask was strapped to Tony’s pale face. A nurse stood by the head of the bed writing something on a clipboard.

Peter didn’t like seeing his dad look this broken…

“Hey, let’s sit down, ok?” Steve suggested from behind him.

“Sure,” Peter sighed after a beat. He’d considered pointing out that they’d been doing nothing _but_ sitting for hours but decided against it.

There was already a chair where Peter had put it before, pulled up closely to the bed.

When she saw him, the nurse looked up with a somewhat patronizing smile and gestured for him to sit down as she stepped out of the way. “Try not to touch him too much but… you can hold his hand or something if you want to.”

Peter frowned but nodded anyway, going to sit down by Tony’s bed.

He looked over to see Steve sitting down in a chair right by the door. He offered a small smile and then picked up some random magazine that was sitting on a small side table and started rifling through it.

He got the feeling Steve didn’t actually care about the magazine. He was just trying to give Peter some space.

When he looked back down at Tony again, he tried to decide if he actually wanted to hold Tony’s hand… It felt a little pointless so he decided against it, resting his head on folded arms instead. This time though, he let his forearms press up against Tony just a little.

The contact, however small, was comforting even if Tony wasn’t awake. He’d had his concerns but now that he was back with his dad again he just felt like he could finally relax at least a little.

Apparently, it was relaxing enough that he was able to really fall asleep. He’d been sort of asleep for a while in the waiting area but had been too worried and worked up to really rest very much.

But he must’ve _really_ fallen asleep because when he woke up the sun was shining brightly through the window and the clock told him it was only an hour before he usually got up.

He pushed himself and stretched his arms, sighing tiredly as he looked at Tony again. He didn’t look much different and Peter wished he could share his healing abilities with him and make this go faster…

He glanced towards the door and saw that Steve was already up and reading a book. It looked like something from the little gift shop where you buy teddy bears and ‘get well soon’ balloons for patients.

“Hey, Steve?”

The captain looked up at him from his book, eyebrows raised. “You’re awake, huh? Need something?”

Peter shook his head. “No. I just wanted to ask, uh… how long do you think - I mean, not that - ok, just… how long are you going to stay here?”

“Oh… I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it,” Steve answered honestly. “Did you want to be alone for a while? Maybe I could go grab us some breakfast before we get you back to the tower.”

“‘Back to the tower’?” Peter repeated, eyebrows furrowed. “Why?”

“So you can get ready for school.”

“I’m not going to school,” Peter scoffed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, only to uncross them a moment later when he realized it made him look like a moody kid. “I want to stay here until he wakes up.”

Steve sighed and shut his book, setting it aside. “And when he wakes up?”

“I’ll still stay here and be with him. Look, it’s just one day. It’s really not a big deal.”

It looked like Steve was going to respond so Peter stood up and started to head out the door.

“Where are you going?” Steve questioned. “I thought you didn’t want to leave.”

Peter turned back to Steve, already halfway out the door, and held up his cell phone. “I’m calling to tell them I’m missing today.”

By “them”, Peter meant his friends. But he had no issue with letting Steve think he meant the school. If he told his friends, they’d let his teachers know for him and they’d get him his homework and it would be fine.

Although he really wasn’t betting on this being a one day thing. He’d almost certainly be missing more than that…

If Tony was hurt, Peter couldn’t seriously be expected to just leave him on his own. And having doctors and maybe some Avengers around still counted as ‘alone’ in Peter’s book.

Not wanting to call everyone individually, Peter only called Mary Jane and told her to fill Ned and Harry in as well. There had been no discussion with anyone about what they were telling people so Peter decided he would just have to make that call.

His official story was pretty straightforward. The Avengers had fought the Goblin and he got the upperhand on Iron Man, which was going to put him on the bench for a while. Since he was Iron Man’s kid, it was understandable that he was going to take some time off. Also, he was sorry that it meant he’d have to cancel all of their plans for the foreseeable future. Oh, and just tell the teachers that his dad was injured and he had to stay with him! The less details getting out to the public, the better…

If Tony wanted people to know what happened, then fine. But Tony was unconscious and Peter wasn’t going to just make a public announcement or something. So for the time being, that was all anyone was getting.

It looked like Steve was waiting for him when he came back in and his reassuring smile had the opposite effect on Peter.

Before Steve could say anything, Peter held out a hand and narrowed his eyes. “I’m _not_ going to school today, Steve.”

“Right,” Steve said, sounding as if he was trying his best not to sigh. “I - I know. Listen, while you were out, I got a text from Clint. He’s worried about you.”

Peter’s eyes narrowed even further and he kept his gaze on Steve as he went to sit back in his chair by Tony. “Clint’s not getting me to go to school either.”

“Ok, yeah, I know that.” This time he _did_ sigh. “Clint just wants you to go back home for an hour or two. Get a good breakfast, shower, find a change of clothes.”

“What? No!” Peter said immediately. “What if he wakes up while I’m gone?”

Steve seemed to completely deflate, head slumping forward briefly. He looked back up and sighed again. Apparently he’d expected Peter to just say ‘ok’ with a smile on his face or something. “Well, you can’t just stay here all day. What if we ask the doctors if they expect him to wake up within the next couple hours and if they say they don’t you can go, all right?”

He wanted to argue. He really did. But a shower didn’t sound so bad… and yeah, ok, so he was hungry. All he’d had since before they went to the shopping center was the water Steve made him drink in the waiting room at some point during the night.

Tony still didn’t look any different when he glanced down at him so… maybe if the doctors didn’t think he’d miss Tony waking up it would be ok…

Peter nodded slightly. “Sure, ok…”

He didn’t have to look at Steve’s face to know how relieved he was.

-

“Peter, do you like cheese in your scrambled eggs?” Clint called from the kitchen while Peter dug around in his room.

Rhodey and Clint had gone to the tower as soon as Steve texted to say Peter had agreed to go back. They’d sent Happy to pick him up while they spent some time gathering some of Tony’s things for when he woke up. They also decided to pack a small suitcase for him to take back to the compound. When Peter got there, they told him that as soon as the doctors said it was ok to move Tony they wanted him to stay upstate and recover for a while.

“Don’t care,” Peter shouted in response, shoving some shirts in his own suitcase. They had tried for roughly five minutes to convince Peter that he could stay at the tower and Rhodey or someone would come stay with him. They gave up pretty quickly and told him to pack some clothes and whatever else he needed for them to take back with them.

He shoved his laptop and schoolbooks in his backpack too, figuring he’d need to keep up on studying while they were upstate. Steve would try and get him to go school but it would take longer to get there every morning and he’d get back later and be miserable the whole time anyway so… Yeah, Peter was prepared to fight him on that the second the topic came up.

As soon as he’d shoveled some eggs and bacon in his mouth and washed it down with orange juice, Peter ran to take what was possibly the fastest shower of his life. He had to admit, the warm water felt really nice. He hadn’t noticed before how stiff and sore his body was nor how much his arms had bruised after practically wrestling with Steve…

That felt like it had happened a week ago.

Still, as good as it felt and as much as he would’ve enjoyed staying there for an hour, he had an injured and unconscious dad to get back to. Steve had sworn he’d call immediately if Tony woke up with Peter was gone and he hadn’t yet… whatever else you wanted to say about him, and there was a lot, Steve was a man of his word. So Peter wasn’t too worried but he still didn’t want to take too long.

Once he’d dried off hurriedly and tugged on a shirt, he quickly realized it just wasn’t going to cut it. His own shirt was too tight and just… wrong. And he was already a couple doors away from Tony’s room so yeah, ok, maybe he took one of his dad’s band shirts instead.

And ok, maybe Steve raised a questioning eyebrow at the baggy t-shirt when he got back to the hospital with Rhodey and Happy - Clint had taken the bags they’d packed back to the compound - but Peter didn’t really care. He felt better and it was probably about as close as he was going to get to a hug from Tony for a little while.

With Rhodey there, Steve left to go back to the compound. It seemed like maybe things were going to be a little better between them but Peter still didn’t consider himself to be Captain America’s number one fan so he wasn’t offended when Steve said he was leaving.

Rhodey let Peter stay in Tony’s room alone while he went to talk to the doctors about moving him to the Avengers’ own facility. The privacy was nice, even if he didn’t do anything different. As soon as he’d sat back down, he returned to his previous position, this time maybe resting his forehead on Tony’s arm just the slightest bit.

They’d taken off Tony’s oxygen mask while Peter had been gone. He was going to take that as a sign of improvement, even though he recalled the nurse telling Steve that Tony didn’t necessarily _need_ to have it in the first place and it was just for a little bit.

It made it easier to look at him, if nothing else. He still looked worn and beaten and Peter would give anything to his eyes open… but it was a small step closer to being normal.

-

When Peter woke up again, it was thanks to the feeling of a clumsy hand in his hair.

After blinking tiredly and frowning in confusion, he remembered where he was. And if he was leaning on Tony’s bed then -

He shot upright in his chair, eyes wide. Sure enough, Tony was awake, though he still looked a little out of it. It occurred to Peter that Tony probably had no clue where he was at the moment.

“Dad,” he croaked, unable to say much else. “Hi.”

A very slight smile appeared on Tony’s face and he squinted at Peter. “Hi. Did I wake you up?”

“Dad,” he repeated, his flat tone communicating disapproval. “That doesn’t matter. Are you hurting a lot? The nurse said it’s ok to turn up the dosage of the - oh, you’re in the hospital, by the way.”

Apparently his words had returned to him.

“Yeah, I guessed,” Tony grunted, wincing a little. “Yep, it definitely hurts.”

Peter nodded and pressed the button he’d been told would call a nurse. They had specifically instructed him _not_ to change anything on his own so he figured he’d better get someone in to help Tony.

“Do you need me to tell you what happened?” Peter asked hesitantly.

“I remember, thanks,” Tony sighed.

“Great,” Peter replied. “Because I don’t want to think about it right now.”

He leaned forward onto the bed again, crossing his arms again but keeping his head up. His eyes were glued to Tony as if he thought it would make Tony lose consciousness again if Peter looked away.

Tony looked Peter over and frowned deeply, grabbing Peter’s currently exposed left arm and tugging it closer. The hospital room had felt a little warm so Peter had taken off his sweatshirt earlier, figuring his scars had been seen already and were sort of not that high on his current list of concerns.

“You’re hurt,” his dad said, his tone bland and unreadable. He brushed a thumb over the bruises that wrapped around in the distinctive shape of fingers above his elbow.

Peter felt his jaw drop. “I - _I’m_ hurt? It’s a bruise! _You’re_ the one who’s hurt!” He corrected, gesturing to Tony’s legs, which were both in casts and elevated on small stacks of pillows. “Who cares about me? Especially now when you nearly got crushed to death!”

“Uh, _I_ care,” Tony responded, still frowning but letting go of Peter’s arm. “And I wasn’t nearly crushed to death. Maybe the loss of my legs but not death.”

“Dad,” Peter said again, frowning right back. “You’re not funny.”’

Tony at least at the decency to look sorry. Then he held his arms open weakly; a silent invitation for Peter to hug him.

Peter, however, hesitated and bit his lip. “They said I’m not allowed to touch you very much. ’Cause they don’t want me to hurt you.”

“Well, I’m your dad and I say you’re allowed to hug me,” Tony told him, rolling his eyes and wiggling his fingers slightly. “Come on, it would make me feel better.”

Not needed to be told again, Peter leaned into the hug eagerly but still as gently as he could. Even though Tony’s grip was weak, the feeling of his dad’s arms around him was amazingly comforting.

Neither one of them made any indication that they were ready to stop hugging each other so they stayed that way until they both drifted back to sleep. Peter’s face wound up buried against his dad’s collarbone and wet with relieved tears. Tony’s fingers were threaded in Peter’s messy hair, cheek pressed to the top of his head.

Rhodey didn’t even try to pretend he _hadn’t_ taken a picture with his phone when he came back in the room, grinning at the sight of the two Starks.

-

Tony wanted to leave earlier than they actually let him.

He wasn’t allowed to be transferred to the compound until the next morning and even then they had to be extremely careful not to jostle him too much.

If it had been up to him, he would’ve been back home at the tower; just he and Peter, as soon as he was able to stay awake for an hour straight. He didn’t want to be in the hospital and he didn’t want to be put on bedrest upstate.

Unfortunately, it was anything but up to him if only for the fact that he couldn’t really move.

They told him it was a miracle that he’d been able to stand right after Goblin had left him literally in the floor. People asked him multiple times how he’d done it. Was he just in shock and unaware of how much damage had been done? Was the suit carrying him? How did he get up on his feet?

It seemed like a no brainer to Tony though. Peter called him so he got up.

Yeah, it had hurt. And he’d known it too. It wasn’t that he was unaware of it in the moment. He was in tremendous pain and it wasn’t like getting up for Peter was _easy_ exactly but he hadn’t hesitated to do it.

He was still hurting and lot too. But Peter still needed him so he was really trying to be strong so he could be there for his kid.

His attempts at masking how much pain he was in worked pretty well on most people but Peter and Rhodey saw right through it. They called him on it too and wouldn’t stop pestering until he dropped the act.

It was both annoying and appreciated at the same time.

When it was finally time to leave the hospital, Tony almost asked Peter if he wanted to just stay in the tower so he wouldn’t fall behind in school. But he already knew the answer, didn’t he? So he decided against asking.

The room they put him in at the compound was, to put it simply, completely stupid.

His own room, which was barely used, was deemed too far away from everyone. The medical wing was the same. In his room, it would be too hard for the doctor to take care of him due to the distance from all his equipment. If they put him in the medical wing, he’d be too far from where they Avengers stayed and they felt he’d be too isolated.

So they stuck him in the main living area.

A makeshift room, which was an odd blend of a temporary bedroom and temporary hospital room, had been set up with dividers in the corner of the large room. It was easy to open up so he could be included in whatever they were doing in there and just as easy to close and give him some privacy.

It wasn’t a real room though so he didn’t feel like closing it off for “privacy” would be all that effective. Still, he could tell how much thought had gone into it and he was thankful for it.

They kept it open the first day and he watched tv with everyone else. The others sat on the couch and he was in his bed against the back wall. Peter curled up next to him and Tony wondered if that kind of thing was why they’d given him a larger bed. It wasn’t as big as the one he normally used at home but it was certainly bigger than any regular hospital bed and the perfect size for Peter to fit too.

When they ate lunch and then dinner they moved the table closer to his “room”, which was still open, so he could be included in the conversation even though he had to eat in bed with a tray.

Peter used a small folding table right by his bed.

They didn’t close his room up until everyone was going to bed.

Peter went to the room that had been deemed his and Tony thought at first that he’d gone to bed without even saying goodnight. But then he came back in once he was all ready for bed and dragged a sleeping bag behind him. He set it up right beside Tony’s bed and went to sleep there.

Tony would’ve protested and told him that he should sleep in an actual bed and maybe it was selfish of him… but he felt better having Peter there too.

“Good night, Dad,” Peter said softly from the floor as soon as he’d settled in the sleeping bag. Tony couldn’t move enough yet to see him over the edge of the bed.

“Good night, kid,” Tony responded, smiling softly. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Dad,” came Peter’s reply without missing a beat.

Tony would be lying to say he didn’t feel an instantaneous warmth in his chest that stayed there all night.

-

According to the clock that was being projected in red onto the flimsy divider wall across from him, Tony had slept for maybe an hour and a half before waking up again.

It hadn’t been a nightmare exactly… Except for the fact that, ok, yeah, it had been a nightmare.

Tony didn’t want what had happened to bother him. At least not like _that_. How was Peter supposed to see him as strong when he was waking from nightmares about a monster?

Monsters weren’t supposed to be real.

They were though and Tony had seen his fair share of them and not just the physical kind. It was considered a very childish thing to be scared of monsters under the bed… And he wasn’t scared of that because if he were, would Peter be allowed to sleep on the floor beside the bed? Absolutely not.

And why on Earth was he thinking about that if it wasn’t the problem? There was a flying _science_ monster that was haunting his dreams, not anything under the bed, so why even go there?

Stupid pain meds making his mind wander…

There wasn’t much that was more frustrating to Tony than feeling like he couldn’t get control of his own train of thought. It was just going wherever it wanted and Tony had no say. He was only a passenger at the moment.

But yes, Tony was afraid of monsters. Some monsters, anyway…

As much as he didn’t want to be, he was definitely afraid of this one. It was sort of hard not to be when it had crushed him so thoroughly.

Most of his energy in that last stretch of their fight had been spent trying to direct it away from Peter. He’d been able to hear his kid yelling; fight Cap when he held him back. He knew if Peter got away he would do everything he could to get between the Goblin and Tony.

And, well, Tony wasn’t going to have that.

He could hear Peter’s even breathing from the floor. He officially decided that having Peter right there made him feel calmer. That way he didn’t have to worry about whether Peter was ok.

After sitting there quietly, steadying his own breathing while listening to the sound of Peter’s, the door in the divider opened slowly. Rhodey poked his head in cautiously.

“Tony? You awake?” he asked, his tone hushed.

“Yes,” Tony replied, trying to readjust his position on the bed and completely failing. Apparently he couldn’t move that much yet.

“I thought you might be,” Rhodey sighed and came into the room all the way, shutting the door behind him. “Did you even sleep at -”

Tony cut him off with a sharp shushing sound when Rhodey stopped trying to be quiet. “Peter’s still sleeping. Keep it down.”

Rhodey looked down at the floor and raised his eyebrows. “Oh. Is he ok?”

“I guess as much as he can be,” Tony answered quietly. He coughed slightly, trying his hardest not to make too much noise. “Water?”

“Sure,” Rhodey said, hurrying over to grab Tony’s water from the bedside table and holding it over for him. He pressed a button on the side of the bed to tilt his top half up a little more. “How are your pain levels?”

“Not too bad,” Tony told him, taking the water gratefully. “Did you want to sit down?”

His friend nodded and moved around to the other side of the bed, being careful not to step on Peter when he moved by him, and took a seat in one of the two chairs they’d put there.

“How long are you all making me stay here again?”

Rhodey sighed tiredly and shrugged. “As long as it takes. At least as long as you’re on bedrest. Ideally, Tony, I’d like you to be here until you can walk on your own.”

“Uh, that could be months,” Tony scoffed. “Not happening. I’ll stay for a week.”

“ _Tony._ ”

“ _Rhodey_ ,” Tony mimicked with a smirk.

“At least until you’ve moved from bedrest to a wheelchair, all right?”

Tony groaned softly and tipped his head back against his pillows. “Fine, fine. Ok.”

Rhodey opened his mouth to respond and immediately shut it again a moment later, going still in his chair when they heard Peter shifting in his sleeping bag.

Neither man moved other than Tony raising a finger to his lips, not wanting to keep making noise and risk waking Peter up.

Just when he stopped moving and Tony thought they were in the clear, the top of his head appeared over the edge of the bed.

“Dad? You ok?” He asked, voice slurring tiredly as he ran a hand through his messy hair.

“Peachy,” Tony responded, sighing slightly. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

Peter shrugged and got up on his knees, stretching his arms. “It’s ok. Hi, Rhodey.”

“Hi,” Rhodey said with a pleasant smile. “Your dad just agreed to stay here until he’s allowed out of bed.”

“Victory,” Peter whispered, sharing a grin with Rhodey.

Tony rolled his eyes and groaned indignantly. “Betrayed by my own family.”

Peter made an unconvinced sound in the back of his throat. “Not really. We talked about it and we really think you’ll be better off if you let yourself stay in bed and heal, which won’t really happen if you don’t agree to stay here.”

“Exactly,” Rhodey cut in. “So by convincing you to do what _we_ want you to do, we’re helping you heal. Not betraying; assisting.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard so I’m going to pretend like I didn’t,” Tony informed them. “Ok?”

“Sure,” Peter snorted. “Hey, on a scale of one to ten, how bad are you feeling right now?”

“Who said I’m feeling bad?”

Peter raised an eyebrow at him. “Uh, no one has to. You kinda got smashed, Dad. You’re not going to _not_ feel bad. That and you’re squirming.”

Tony met Peter’s unimpressed stare and considered lying for maybe a half a second. “Nine, maybe. Or eight.”

“‘ _Nine_ ’?” Rhodey repeated, exasperation and hurt evident in his voice. “You specifically told me you weren’t ‘ _too bad_ ’, remember?”

“And you believed me,” Tony replied lightly. “Remember? Not my fault.”

Peter narrowed his eyes and shook his head at his dad disbelievingly. “Lying to people who are trying to help you is really stupid. Stop being stupid.”

“You can’t call Tony Stark -”

“Yeah, I can,” Peter interrupted him firmly. “‘Cause it’s true right now.”

No one said anything for a moment. Finally, Rhodey stood up with a sigh and said he was going to find one of the doctors to come and help with the pain since there was only so much he and Peter could do.

As soon as the door had shut behind him, Tony looked back over at Peter, who looked like he was either going to cry or fall asleep. Possibly both.

“You’re right, kid,” Tony admitted sincerely, sighing heavily. “It’s just a habit.”

“Which thing?” Peter asked, raising his eyebrow again.

Tony frowned slightly. “I don’t know. Hiding my pain with lies and humor?”

“Well, can we try and break that habit?”

That got a small chuckle out of Tony, which made Peter smile a little. “Sure, we can, kid. You just keep on calling me on it and we’ll go from there.”

“Like how I’m not supposed to say I’m sorry all the time?”

“Exactly like that.”

-

Peter took their conversation very much to heart.

It didn’t take more than a couple days for Tony to realize that Peter had absolutely no qualms about telling Tony to shut up or stop lying. He said it often enough…

It occurred to Tony not for the first time and certainly not for the last exactly how much - and how fast - their relationship had changed. When they’d first met and even after Peter had come to live with him, Peter would have never told Tony he was an idiot and he wouldn’t have admitted he loved him either.

Now, he was suddenly rather free and easy with both.

Tony suspected that Peter had finally decided to say “I love you” back because he’d thought he was going to lose his dad. Again.

He’d realized that he still hadn’t gathered up the courage to say it - make it real - and if Tony hadn’t made it then he would’ve missed his chance. And now that he’d said it the once, he said it back to Tony every time.

For the most part, Tony was left alone except by the doctors and nurses who always seemed to have something else to poke him with. He could hear various members of the team outside the walls of his makeshift room frequently throughout the day and sometimes at night too. Other than when the rest of the team got back and came to see him, hardly anyone but Peter and Rhodey really came in.

They opened his room up at dinner when everyone was gathered together but left it shut besides that. If he wanted company, they said he only had to ask and they’d pull the walls back. So far, he hadn’t felt inclined to do that.

He was content with just his son and his best friend for the time being.

They didn’t have to exchange any words for Tony to know that Peter wasn’t planning to go back home without him and it had already been decided that Tony wasn’t allowed home until he was in a wheelchair and could maybe manage to stand a little. And if he wasn’t going home, he wasn’t going to school either. It would take too long to get there and back and barely give him time to finish his homework and get some decent rest.

And besides, there was really no way anyone was going to get Peter away from Tony that long. Neither of them were quite ready for that.

Currently, the only solution they’d been able to come up with was to ask his teachers to email him all of the assignments so he could stay on track. His friends emailed him copies of their notes too.

Peter had very little interest in doing the work but Tony figured he was going to be firm about it if he was going to let him completely miss school for an indefinite amount of time. And it wasn’t as if Tony had no work to do either as he was also getting emails related to SI; things no one else in the company could really do without Tony Stark.

So after breakfast and before lunch was considered work time for the Starks. The doctors and Rhodey weren’t allowed in unless it really couldn’t wait.

Tony would sit up in bed with a Stark-made tablet and respond to everything he had to while Peter slouched in a mess of limbs and paper in one of the two armchairs and did each day’s work was fast as he could.

It was a little surprising how fast they slipped into a new routine. They weren’t in their own home, there were more people around during the day than either of them were used to at that point in their lives, both of their usual schedules had been completely tossed out the window, and time spent as superheroes was not currently a part of the equation.

Still, they were with each other everyday and if anything they were maybe even closer than before, which they both thought was saying something. It didn’t really matter what the situation was or where they were.

They still talked almost non-stop and Tony’s low energy levels as he recovered didn’t really upset that. Sure, Peter was worried, but Tony liked to listen to his kid even when he wasn’t feeling one hundred percent so he would just sit there while Peter went on about some movie or something in his homework or just whatever was on his mind. That hadn’t changed.

Peter still had nightmares and Tony was still there to comfort him right after, even if he couldn’t really move enough to do more than mostly put his arms around Peter when he climbed up into the bed. And that didn’t really matter to Peter because even if he was hurt, he was still Tony; still his _dad_. So it was comforting either way.

And then of course, they still ate ice cream and watched tv together.

The Avengers didn’t have the kinds Peter and Tony usually bought but ice cream was ice cream so they really didn’t mind. Peter would go out to the kitchen and get the ice cream and then bring it back in and set up something to watch on his laptop, which he’d set on his lap once he was settled next to Tony on the bed.

The lights would be turned off to “enhance the experience”. Tony usually fell asleep before it was over but after his ice cream was gone. Then Peter would finish the show or movie on his own before sliding his laptop into his backpack and getting into his sleeping bag for the night.

And ok, so it wasn’t the same. They both still hurting and in different ways. And they were scared too. Maybe they were finding a new - _temporary_ \- routine but it didn’t mean they didn’t wish things could go back to what had become _their_ normal.

But there was something comforting in it too. Because there was some part of adopting a new routine and modifying usual parts of life that made it feel like it was going to be ok.

And eventually, it would be. Things would be normal again and they’d still be with each other and they would both be ok.

Tony didn’t think either of them would’ve been able to cope as well as they were so far if it weren’t for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He finally said iiit! ^-^ XD
> 
> Were any of you guys at ACE Comic-Con this weekend?


	42. Chapter Forty-Two

Tony Stark was injured and possibly dying.

James Rhodes and his War Machine armor hadn’t been _quite_ fast enough to catch up to the Green Goblin and he’d lost him.

Spider-Man hadn’t made any appearances since that day.

The Green Goblin was nowhere to be found.

Peter Stark wasn’t going to school.

No word had been given on Tony Stark from the Avengers or Stark Industries.

Maybe he was already dead…

-

Peter sighed heavily and shut off the tv after flipping through channels for nearly ten minutes.

Tony had fallen asleep in the middle of work time and, given that he’d only slept for two hours the night before, Peter had decided to slip out and let his dad get some rest. He’d finished all his homework and studying on the large leather couch in front of the tv and Tony was still sleeping.

Watching tv had _seemed_ like a good way to spend his time.

“They don’t know what they’re talking about, really.”

Peter glanced up at the doorway as Wanda came into the room, green sweater wrapped tightly around her as she hugged her arms and shrugged at him. She came over and sat down on the couch, turning to the side so she could see him better.

“They’re only curious,” she said, shrugging again. “Try not to pay too much attention.”

“That’s easy to say when you aren’t the one they’re talking about,” Peter mumbled, frowning and tossing the remote onto the coffee table. “I just… I don’t know. It’s not like they’re even saying anything bad but - no, ok, I take that back. The Bugle claims that even though they don’t know _how_ , what happened to Iron Man is clearly the fault of Spider-Man, who had probably been assisting the Goblin. Oh, and Jameson wants to know why I haven’t sent in any pictures of it yet,” he scoffed, shaking his head before tipping it backwards to rest on the back of the couch.

“Well… try not to worry about that, Peter, ok?” Wanda tried, reaching out and resting a hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah, I know. I do.” He closed his eyes and sighed again. “I don’t really care what Jameson says but, I mean… I don’t exactly want to read it either. And I obviously wasn’t working with Goblin or trying to get Tony hurt but, Wanda, I can’t help feeling like it was at least partially my fault. And JJJ isn’t helping anything.”

Wanda hummed in agreement. “No, I don’t imagine he is. But then, neither are _you_.”

Peter yelped when she whacked his shoulder unexpectedly. “Hey! What did _I_ do?”

“Well, you’re beating yourself up again, for one thing,” she told him with a pointed look. “I don’t have to have been there to know that nothing that happened was your fault. And I’m sorry, Peter, I _really_ am, but feeling guilty and all… it’s not exactly going to help Tony either.”

He frowned but didn’t say anything. Instead, he left it with a silent request for her to continue.

“Well, he can tell when you’re doing that. And he knows it makes you feel absolutely awful, which makes him feel awful too.”

“You’re saying I’m making Tony feel awful?” His frown deepened at that.

Wanda sighed and squeezed his shoulder. “Well, _yes_ , but I’m also trying to encourage you. I’m trying to say that nothing is your fault and telling yourself it is really only hurts people.”

Peter was about to respond when a firm hand clapped down on his other shoulder and made him jump. He tipped his head back even more and saw Clint standing behind the couch with a large mug of coffee.

“She’s right, kid,” Clint told him, giving his shoulder a little shake before letting go and heading over to the kitchen to refill his mug. “Give yourself a break, yeah?”

He wanted to argue but what was the point when they were right? That was just his teenage stubbornness. Instead he nodded in defeat and kicked his feet up on the coffee table in front of him. “Ok, but is there anything we can do about people talking about this stuff? Like - I don’t know, what if we just told people that Tony’s ok, you know?”

Clint nodded thoughtfully to the side. “I mean, we’ve talked about it. We just don’t know what to say and Tony told us he didn’t want anyone to worry about that yet. But I’m sure his team at SI is pressuring him for some kind of statement or at least a go-ahead for them to make one.” Once he’d filled his mug, he took it to go sit at the table. Peter had to stretch his neck at a slightly odd angle to be able to look at him.

“I don’t get why he doesn’t want anyone saying anything.”

The older man gave a short laugh and shook his head, crossing his arms on the table as he drank his coffee. “Yeah, I don’t know either, kid. I guess he just doesn’t want to think about it yet.”

Peter nodded consideringly and then suddenly stood up from the couch. “Ok, well, I’m gonna go check on him,” he announced, gathering up his schoolwork and ignoring the surprised expressions on Wanda and Clint’s faces.

He gave a rushed wave and slipped back into Tony’s room, dumping his things onto one chair and then sitting in the other with his laptop, peeking over the top to make sure he hadn’t disturbed Tony. It didn’t _look_ like he had so he decided to assume he was in the clear.

Settling back into the chair, Peter got to work.

-

**To: Mary Jane Watson**

**From: Peter Stark**

**Hey, would it be ok to send you something I wrote? I just want someone to look it over and make it’s all ok before I do anything with it.**

-

**To: Peter Stark**

**From: Mary Jane Watson**

**Sure. Send it over.**

-

Peter might not have done it if he had really taken the time to consider the aftereffects. Key word being _might._ Because he probably still would’ve done it.

Still, it took him by surprise.

First, his phone had gone completely nuts with notifications of comments and reposts. After the initial flood of followers when Tony first tagged Pater’s account, therefore giving the world access to it, he hadn’t really had to deal with it to this extent. He didn’t post that much on social media so it wasn’t much of an issue for him. He hadn’t really posted very much online since then and none of it had gotten this kind of reaction. Maybe Tony had a point about turning off his notifications...

Second, he had looked at the news and seen that everyone was talking about. After a straight week with no new information and just a bunch of questions, they were all jumping all over what little they had just been given.

And third, Tony had demanded to know just what the heck Peter had been thinking. He hadn’t been mad though… Just surprised.

“I just don’t get why you wouldn’t have at least _mentioned_ it beforehand, kid,” Tony had sighed as he scrolled through the many articles about it online. “I mean, it’s not the worst thing you could’ve done but I was kind of hoping all this would just die down if no one said anything.”

“Come on, Dad,” Peter scoffed. “Like that was going to happen.”

“Yeah,” he’d muttered, shutting off his tablet and pinching the bridge of his nose. “No, you’re right. Wishful thinking on my part, I guess.”

Normally, Peter probably wouldn’t have done anything like that. He would’ve kept his mouth shut and let Tony deal with it his way. But no one was doing _anything_ and people were just talking amongst themselves and spreading around stories and answers from supposed “close sources” and Peter had finally had enough of it.

Typically, when he was frustrated he liked to put on his Spider-Man suit and go swing around for a while. He didn’t see that as an option at the moment.

Obviously, he had to find some other way to let off steam.

-

Posted under a picture Peter had taken of Tony laughing while they discussed half-serious Doctor Who theories while tinkering in Tony’s workshop, Peter had shared his thoughts on the whole thing.

**My dad is the strongest man I have ever known. Even though it’s easy to think this way, that doesn’t mean that he’ll never take a hit. Believe me, I was just as horrified as everyone else.**

**But he’s still a man. He can get hurt and you know what? He did. He got really, really hurt. And it doesn’t take him out of the picture.**

**He’s fighting through it and getting better and before you know it he’s going to be back in his tower messing with his tools, back at his boring meetings for SI, and back in his suit flying around saving the world.**

**Spider-Man and the Avengers are helping him and even if you guys aren’t seeing them as much, it doesn’t mean they abandoned you. Just please be patient. They’re still protecting you so don’t be scared, ok?**

**I’m asking everyone to just accept a little radio silence right now. Imagine if you or family member got really, really hurt and you were still trying to understand it and fix it and everyone was trying to make you go back to your life and give them answers? It’s exhausting and it’s invasive and sometimes people just need a little time and space.**

**When he’s better, you’ll know. When he’s ready to talk to you, he will. For now, can this just be enough? Can you just know that he’s alive and getting better and can you just give him time?**

**I know that a lot of people look up to him and love him a lot. I understand that you’re worried about him. But I don’t think any of you love or admire him as much as I do and I’m telling you that he’s going to be ok. I’m with him and he’s getting through this.**

**When there’s more to say, it’ll be said. For now, know that my dad is alive and still the strongest man I’ll ever know.**

-

Tony was really just taken aback by it. After an hour or two, he’d gotten over it. And Peter could understand that maybe waking up to that would be a little confusing.

In Tony’s mind, they’d had a plan. That plan had been to keep quiet. That plan was also pretty much blown at that point.

After giving it some thought though, Tony didn’t mind. He went back and read it again and decided he liked how clear it was that Peter hadn’t given it much thought.

That wasn’t say that it had been mindless rambling or stupid in anyway. No, it was simply that he hadn’t sat there and thought of the very best way to put anything. He’d sat down and written what he was thinking and maybe stopped to check for typos before he let the world see it and Tony didn’t have to have been conscious at the time to know that.

As he read it, Tony decided that Peter had been some mix of heartfelt and carefully informative in his words. He was just expressing his thoughts and trying to appease the people at least a little.

The other Avengers pretty much all agreed that Peter had made a great call. None of them wanted the responsibility of being the ones to tell anyone how Tony was doing. They were also trying to focus on nailing the Goblin once and for all and having the focus taken off of their failure in taking him down was a welcome turn of events.

It seemed to have taken a little bit of weight of off everyone’s shoulders somehow and no one was going to complain about _that_.

“So, I’m just thinking that, like, since you’re all here now and I _kinda_ may have brought you guys into everything,” Peter started cautiously during dinner the next night, swirling his fork around in his spaghetti and avoiding all eye contact. “And I’m really not going to go anywhere right now…”

“Spit it out,” Tony prodded teasingly, a tired smirk on his face.

They had pulled the couch and coffee table to face Tony’s bed that evening and everyone was sitting around there to eat. The amount of rearranging they all kept doing with the furniture was enough to drive Tony crazy - especially since they insisted on pushing it instead of gently lifting and relocating - but he appreciated the company.

“Yeah, Peter, just ask what you want to ask,” Clint chuckled.

Peter rolled his eyes but nodded. “Ok, so can some of you guys maybe try and go on patrol at least some nights while we’re here? I just - I can’t right now and I _said_ that we’re still protecting them and I know that’s not how you guys usually do it but I don’t want those people that I try to look out for to feel abandoned. And, well… you’re here so -”

“Sure,” Bucky got him off, almost smiling. “We’d be happy to.”

“I mean, maybe not _all_ of us are going to help with that but I’m sure some of us can,” Bruce added with a slightly awkward chuckle.

Peter breathed a relieved laugh and nodded again. “Ok, cool. Great. It’s - I just - well, it should only be until until we go home. I’ll be able to keep going then.”

Natasha nodded and offered a smile. “Don’t worry. None of us mind.”

“You could stay in the tower,” Tony offered, sounding almost as if he were speaking to himself. “You all still have rooms there. If a few of you wanted to just stay there for a few nights and take turns patrolling the city for Peter, I think that could work.”

“That’s a good idea,” Steve put in, wearing a good-natured and possibly cautious smile. “We can talk tomorrow about who’ll go and we can always rotate as long as you two end up being here if whoever goes doesn’t want to stay too long.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Peter agreed appreciatively. “Maybe if someone’s going to the tower anyway you could get more of Tony’s t-shirts.”

Tony snorted and rolled his eyes. “You’d think I _didn’t_ make a point of buying you all those new clothes for the school year. Here,” he held his empty plate out to the Peter. “Take that. I’m pretty much an invalid at the moment anyway and if you’re going to steal my clothes you can at least do my dishes for me.”

“Hey, as long as you’re not trying to stop me from taking your shirts,” Peter said, taking Tony’s plate and standing up to take it to the kitchen. “I will do all the dishes you want.”

-

Clint, Sam, and Natasha went to stay in the tower the next day. They promised Peter that at least one them would go out on patrol each night and said that if there was anything big that they needed to know, they’d make sure to contact them and keep them and keep them updated.

Peter made a list of the shirts he wanted from Tony’s room and Tony asked for a couple himself. Tony wanted to tell them to bring him some things from his workshop so he could at least try and be productive while he was in bed. Unfortunately for him, he was outvoted by his teammates and doctors who didn’t think it was the best idea.

Of course, that just meant he had more time to watch tv with Peter, which neither of them minded.

Whether or not it was really a good thing in the long run just wasn’t important at the moment. For the time being, they didn’t really have to spend any time away from each other and could just pretend that everything was fine if they ignored the injuries Tony had sustained.

For Tony, it didn’t seem like the pain was really so bad when he just got to spend his time with his kid. They were letting the other Avengers worry about the Goblin for a little while; just worrying about getting Tony better for then.

The longer they were there, the more often Tony liked to keep his little room open, even when he just needed to rest. He’d take a nap in his bed while the others went about their business and just tried to be quiet about it. If he wasn’t sleeping, they didn’t worry about that as much and he really didn’t mind.

The company was yet another thing to take his mind off of everything.

A couple days after Peter posted his little statement online, they both decided to just stay off the internet unless it was important. They only looked at things related to work in Tony’s case and school in Peter’s. Peter texted his friends still but they mostly complained to each other about their assignments or discussed and joked about trivial things.

At least until they went home, the Starks didn’t want to worry about anything quite yet. If anything big happened; anything they really needed to know, the Avengers would tell them.

So for a while everything was just… ok.

Tony was making progress slowly but surely. There was still pain but they had him on enough meds that it wasn’t too awful. The doctors said he was recovering well and at a pleasantly surprising rate. Sure, it wasn’t any super healing factor like Peter had but “surprisingly, a little faster than we’d been anticipating” was deemed to be pretty good.

It was all just little steps closer to going back home and then it would _actually_ go back to normal. Everything would be the way it had been and Tony would be ok.

“All I’m saying is that it doesn’t make too much sense to head back two days before Thanksgiving. If you're already here, why not just say?”

“Rhodey, Thanksgiving is pointless. I miss my bed. I miss my bots. I miss my tower. Peter and I can eat turkey there.”

Rhodey had been trying all weekend to convince Tony to say for Thanksgiving. The doctors had told him on Saturday that he’d be let out of bed rest early that week and arrangements were already being made to transport him safely back to the tower. He’d already called Happy and had him working to get any and all medical equipment that was still needed all set up in Tony’s bedroom and living room, where he’d have to spend more of his time at first.

Tony was getting restless and had very little interest in staying at the compound any longer than he had to. He was ready to go home with Peter and let everything go back to normal.

“Everyone’s helping out with the food,” Rhodey tried on Monday during breakfast, as if that fact was supposed to change Tony’s mind. “Clint and Scott are bringing their families. Come on, Tones, it’ll be real relaxed and laid back. We’re just going to eat a nice dinner together and be a team. For a lot of us, this is the only family we’ve got.”

Tony was in the middle of his argument when Peter came back into the room, hair dripping and curly after his shower.

“What are we arguing about?” He questioned, raising a curious eyebrow.

“Thanksgiving,” they answered simultaneously.

Peter cocked his head to the side. “What about it?”

“Tony doesn’t want the two of you to stay for our Avengers Thanksgiving dinner,” Rhodey told him a little bitterly.

“There’s an Avengers Thanksgiving dinner?” Peter asked and neither of the men missed the way his eyes lit up. He looked at Tony. “Why can’t we stay?”

His dad rolled his eyes briefly. “You’re saying you want to?”

“Well… I mean, Thanksgiving with a really big group always looked pretty, uh, I don’t know… pretty special, I guess, on tv. And I just - I’ve never had that much family so Thanksgiving’s been a little… underwhelming.”

Rhodey smiled warmly and came over to put an arm around Peter’s shoulders, pulling him against his side. “Hey, if the kid wants a big Thanksgiving dinner, I saw we let him have one. There is literally no good reason to say no at this point, Tony.”

Tony opened his mouth to argue but Rhodey beat him to it and kept going.

“We all know Peter has you wrapped around his finger. You’re not going to say no.” He looked down at Peter and nudged his side. “Give him the puppy eyes. That always works.”

“No, no, no!” Tony interrupted, holding up a finger. “Not necessary. Fine. We will stay for Thanksgiving but we’re going home over the weekend and there will be no arguments there. We have been here long enough.”

Peter grinned widely and moved out from under Rhodey’s arm to wrap Tony in a hug. “Thanks, Dad. It means a lot.”

“Sure, kid,” Tony chuckled and hugged him back, not missing the opportunity to ruffle his wet hair. “But you have to help me make pie.”

“I don’t know how!” Peter protested, his tone baffled but amused.

Tony shrugged, an easy smile on his face. “Yeah, neither do I, but how different can it be from making muffins?”

“Dad,” he said flatly, drawing the word out a little and sounding completely done with Tony’s nonsense.

“What?” Tony laughed. “We’ll figure it out together, ok? It’ll be great. All part of the Thanksgiving experience you’re so set on having.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I frightened some people by not posting last week. I appreciate the concern! I'm ok but I've been busy with other things and just can't prioritize fanfiction above other things.
> 
> For that reason... I can't promise chapters every week right now. I've only written up to chapter forty-five, which I'm still in the middle of. I'll do my best to post weekly as long as I have chapters and I'm trying to write when I have time but, well, I just don't have the time I had before. 
> 
> But I promise you that I will complete this story! I'm not sure how long it'll take or how many chapters there will be in total (at least somewhere around 55) but I will finish it. It's very likely that I won't be able to manage weekly updates moving forward but whenever I do have a new chapter I'll post it on the closest Monday. :)


	43. Chapter Forty-Three

“This is so annoying,” Tony griped, crossing his arms and huffing impatiently. “I can’t even move.”

Peter bit back a laugh, lips bunching together in an attempt to hide his grin. “At least you’re not stuck in bed anymore so… there’s that.”

Tony had been in his new wheelchair for all of two hours and was apparently finding it to be much more confining that he’d planned on. His legs were still in casts, though most of the bandages littering his body had been either removed or traded for something smaller. It had been roughly two weeks and the smaller injuries were clearing up already.

If it had been up to Tony, his legs would’ve been perfectly fine within a few days or maybe - _maybe_ \-  a week. He wouldn’t have needed any stitches or to have any part of his body in a cast. And he definitely wouldn’t have been sitting in a bed for two weeks.

“I just wasn’t expecting to still be so… constricted,” Tony told him, fidgeting in the chair. “How does anyone put up with these things? I have to use my _arms_ to move.”

“You could just let me push you,” Peter reminded him with a raised eyebrow from where he sat on the corner of Tony’s recently vacated bed. They’d pushed back the walls to make it easier for Tony get around in his chair since trying to get through the already sort of small door would’ve been difficult. “Aren’t your arms still sore anyway? You said your whole body is aching and throbbing.”

“Yes,” Tony began his response in a clipped tone. “From being in the same position for so long. I’ll be fine. They arms just have to get used to moving again. You’re not pushing the chair.”

Peter raised both eyebrows then. “Yeah, then don’t complain about it. If you aren’t going to let anyone help you, you don’t get to be annoyed about it.”

One of the first things Tony had said once they’d helped him into the chair was that he wasn’t going to be pushed in it. He would get himself around just fine and had no need for assistance.

Peter wasn’t sure if Tony was now learning that he had underestimated how difficult in would be and was standing by his previous statement out of pride and stubbornness or if he had just been being proud and stubborn from the start. Either way, it didn’t stop Peter from offering to help no matter how many times his offers were rejected.

“Fine. Then I won’t complain,” Tony sniffed and went back to quietly sulking in his chair. He was sitting at the table just then, one chair pushed to the side to make room for his wheeled one. But he’d been moving from one place to another every ten or so minutes. When he wasn’t moving his chair around, he was huffing frustratedly and fidgeting incessantly. “When we go back home, I’m making a new chair. I’ll put FRIDAY in it so she can move me around and I won’t have to do it myself. And I’ll make it go faster. Smoother too. It’s too… draggy. I hate it.”

It only took a look from Peter to make Tony sigh and roll his eyes defeatedly.

“Complaining. Right,” he said. “Sorry about that. But seriously, I’ll have to make this thing bearable if I’m going to be stuck in it for so long.”

“I mean, ok, but you still have to take it easy so…” he shrugged. “Don’t go _too_ crazy. And, um, I can always help you do it. If you want.”

Tony sighed again, softer this time, but smiled fondly. “Sure, kid. That would be good.”

-

“Dad?” Peter whispered, looking up over the top of his laptop to see if Tony was still awake. He was, but only just. They’d turned the light off a while ago when Tony had said it was bothering his eyes so the only light in the room was coming from his laptop, even after he’d turned the screen’s backlight down as far as it would go.

“What’s up, kid?” He sighed, blinking his eyes open and then breathing in deeply through his nose. “Something wrong?”

“No,” he said, still keeping his voice down and closing his laptop screen a little. “Um, are you ok by yourself for a little bit? Harry wants to call so I was just going to sit on the couch if, uh, if you’re ok here.”

Tony groaned quietly and rubbed a hand over his eyes. “I really don’t understand why you… Fine. Yeah, fine. I’m ok. Don’t stay up too late. I’ll probably be asleep when you come back in to go to bed.”

Peter nodded and stood up, keeping his laptop still partially open. He got to the door a little slower than usual, barely avoiding collision with the wheelchair he’d forgotten was sitting there. His spidey sense was really the only thing that saved him from walking straight into it.

Getting Tony out of the chair and into bed had been a bit of an ordeal. He had tried his hardest to do it himself, in spite of the protests from Peter, Rhodey, and Clint, who had all been there to try and help him. When he’d finally agreed to let them help, they all silently agreed not to mention his clearly wounded ego. Rhodey and Clint had lifted him out of the chair and gotten him in bed without Peter’s help, which hadn’t been the teenager’s choice at all.

He had tried to help and been immediately shot down by his dad, who hadn’t even wanted to look at him in that moment. As much as he’d wanted to argue, Peter had agreed with a quiet, “ok,” out of a desire not to upset Tony any more.

Once he’d opened the door, he turned back to give Tony a small wave and a smile. “Good night, Dad. I love you.”

Tony smiled back with a quiet sigh. “Love you too, Pete.”

It was late enough that no one was out in their common area. Most of the Avengers were probably still awake but had gone to their rooms by then. Sometimes a few of them would stay up and sit together on the couch watching a movie but after one night when they’d stayed there until the small hours of the morning Peter hadn’t noticed them doing it again. He was pretty sure it had to do with the passing comment Tony had made during lunch about not being able to sleep at all the night before.

So no one was going to be there to bother him or be bothered _by_ him if he sat on the couch to talk to his friend. Still, he sat in the corner and tried to be as out of the way as he could manage, just in case.

Once he was settled, he opened his laptop again and clicked the call button. Harry must’ve stepped away from his laptop because it was a minute before he answered the call and his face appeared on Peter’s screen.

“Hey, Harry,” Peter said immediately. “Listen, I just want to say I’m really sorry. We were supposed to hang out and I was going to listen to you and - and just be there for you and then… well, you know. Stuff happened.”

 _“Yeah. Stuff you had no control over,”_ Harry insisted. _“Listen, I’m not hurt or anything, ok? I mean, I would’ve liked to go to a movie together but we can do that another time, right? Don’t be sorry. Mary Jane says you’re sorry too much and I’m pretty sure she’s right.”_

Peter couldn’t help the slight pang of jealously when Harry mentioned Mary Jane. While Peter was upstate, Harry still got to see MJ every day at school. And Ned too, obviously. “Um… yeah. I’m trying not to do that so much.”

_“So… how’s your dad holding up? Ok?”_

“Uh…” Peter bit his lip and glanced back at the little room they’d set up for Tony. “Yeah, he’s doing better. We’ll probably be coming back to the city sometime after Thanksgiving.”

 _“That’s good,”_ Harry said, smiling sincerely. _“I was actually talking to my dad. I told him we were going to try and talk today and he said to tell you he hopes your dad is recovering well and all that.”_

_Breathe._

“Oh. That was nice,” Peter forced out, making himself give a somewhat strained smile. “Um, so you were talking then? That’s - that’s good, right?”

Harry shrugged. _“Yeah, I guess. We didn’t talk that much, really. Oh, I did have a question though. Were you ever at my dad’s labs? You know, here at Oscorp, I mean.”_

“School trip a while ago. Why?”

_Breathe. Breathe._

_“He just said something about it,”_ Harry answered casually, shrugging again. “ _I just wasn’t sure what that was about.”_

Peter took a slow breath and nodded. “Um, can I ask, uh, what he said?”

_“Oh, sure. He just said something it being a while since you were in his lab and how there was some experiment he was eager to get back to. I couldn’t really tell if that was connected or…? I guess it was whatever he was doing when you had your school trip or something. He must’ve remembered you.”_

_Something like that._

Peter made himself nod once again. Then he cleared his throat and attempted to move the conversation forward. “How’ve things been at school? I’ve probably missed a lot.”

 _“Well, everyone’s been talking about you since that fight happened and you just didn’t show up at school. Then you posted that stuff online and that just made them talk even more,”_ Harry told him, tone still casual and light. _“They’re not really saying anything bad - at least that I’ve been hearing. But people are really curious if you’re going to come back. Ned keeps telling everyone you will but most of the kids think you won’t. I don’t know, man, I’ve really just been trying to keep to myself. I eat lunch with MJ and Ned most days and Liz and Flash and a few others are usually around too but I’ve mostly just been trying to get through each day. Oh, hey, Liz has been studying with me this week. I think I’m going to try and ask her to go out.”_

“You should,” Peter replied, finally finding it easier to smile. “I bet she’d say yes. She seems to like you pretty well. She’s nice.”

Harry grinned almost bashfully. _“Yeah, I really like her. I - well, I was thinking about asking her to come to dinner after we’ve gone out a couple times so she can meet my dad but I don’t really think he’d care anyway. And then I was thinking that I don’t know if I really_ want _her to meet him, you know? He’s just… well, it’s not like we’re as close as you and your dad are. And yet I’ve known_ my _dad my whole life._ ” He chuckled humorlessly and shook his head. _“It’s just stupid, you know? Like, I try but I’m feeling kinda over it right now. He doesn’t care about really_ knowing _me.”_

“Uh, yeah… Yeah, I can understand where you’re coming from. I mean, maybe you should focus on getting to know her more for now and if it starts to become something more then - well, that’s when you can worry about your dad.”

He tapped his fingertips on the arm of the couch and tried to breathe. He _really_ didn’t want to talk about Osborn.

 _“Remember what I told you about this whole… dying scientists thing really getting to him?”_ Harry asked, seemingly without hearing anything Peter had said.

“Yeah,” Peter sighed, trying not to frown _too_ much.

 _“I kinda have a new theory,”_ Harry told him, lowering his volume consideringly. _“I kinda want you to keep it a secret for now. Only because I don’t know yet if I’m right. See, I’m sort of starting to think maybe my dad is actually involved. I think he’s the one doing these experiments and that’s really why he hasn’t been talking to me. It’s not that he’s upset that this is happening. He’s just trying to keep anyone from finding out what he’s doing.”_

There was nothing about what his friend had just said that surprised Peter in the slightest. Obviously not. This was Norman Osborn they were talking about, after all, and Peter just couldn’t believe that something so wrong could be going on in his own company without him being involved at all. No, there was just no way.

Still, he hadn’t expected to hear it from Harry, who so wanted everything regarding his dad to be fine.

He had no idea how to respond. He certainly wasn’t going to just _tell_ Harry that he thought his dad was a total psycho who was out for blood.

_In and out. Breathe._

“And… how are you doing with that?” He settled on asking, focusing on keeping his voice level.

Harry scoffed. _“It’s not like I have any actual relationship with him anyway, right? But I don’t know. I want to be wrong. That’s why you can’t say anything yet. I’m still trying to find out more about what’s going on and I don’t want to be wrong and have my dad find out what I was thinking.”_

“What are you going to do if you’re right?”

 _“I don’t know yet,”_ Harry admitted. _“Hadn’t thought that far. But I don’t know yet if I’m even a little bit right so no point in worrying about it now, right?”_

“I… I guess.” Peter frowned worriedly.

Harry had said he was still trying to find out more… Peter really hoped this wasn’t going to put Harry in danger. If Norman realized Harry was starting to pay more attention and even looking for answers… Well, Peter didn’t think that would go well.

And what exactly was he supposed to say to Tony? Yeah, they already thought Osborn was involved but having his own son say he thought so as well… Well, let’s just say that any reason Tony might have to go take Osborn’s head off himself was good enough and Peter didn’t think he’d hesitate.

 _“I’m not trying to be… I don’t know, depressing or whatever,”_ Harry huffed slightly, shrugging his shoulders. _“Forget I said anything. It’s just been bugging me and there’s no one I can really tell.”_

“No, Harry, I’m not - I don’t mind,” Peter said, his words rushed. “I want to listen, really. Don’t feel bad.”

Harry didn’t look entirely convinced. _“Right. Well, it’s just… you seem uncomfortable.”_

Peter frowned again but tried not to. “I mean, I don’t really _want_ to hear that my friend’s dad is, uh, _possibly_ involved with… something like this. I guess. Sorry, Harry.”

 _“Don’t be,”_ Harry said and shook his head. _“Let’s just talk about something else so neither of us feels bad, ok?”_

“Sure,” Peter laughed softly. “What do you want to talk about?”

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment before his face positively lit up. _“Oh! Ned let me borrow some of his Star Trek dvds and I can’t stop watching them! I had no idea there was so much of this.”_

Peter laughed again, glad to have something safe to move the conversation to. Talking about Star Trek was a better distraction than anything else he could think of at the moment. He didn’t have to worry about either one of their dads. At least until they ended their call and went to bed, they could just be a couple of friends with nothing to worry about.

-

“Uh, _no_ , that’s the wrong kind of flour,” Tony informed Peter, looking up from the cookbook he had spread open in his lap. As long as he couldn’t move around, he figured he’d just sit there and boss Peter’s around so it was the teenager’s job to gather all of their ingredients.

“Why is there more than one kind?” Peter practically whined as he went to put it back and looked for the right one. “Does it even matter?”

“Peter, use your head, please,” Tony chided with a smirk. “We’re making pie. Why would we be using corn flour?”

Peter rolled his eyes but grinned at his dad anyway. “Yeah, yeah. What’s next?”

“Uh…” He looked down at the book. “Brown sugar. While you’re in that cupboard, cinnamon and nutmeg too.”

“So, you’re actually going to try and make a pie then?” Clint asked, his smirk audible as he spoke. “And we’re expected to eat it?”

Tony sent him a half-serious glare. “We’re making four pies, actually. And no, you’re not expected to do anything. In fact, how about you _don’t_ eat any, Barton. More for everyone else that way.”

Clint snorted and reached over to take the book from Tony and skim through the recipe. “No, I’ll have to eat at least a slice. I need to make sure it’s safe for Laura and the kids to eat.”

Clint’s family had arrived a couple days prior but they were leaving the morning after Thanksgiving. Apparently, Laura’s family was going to have a Thanksgiving dinner of their own but it was on the weekend to accommodate everyone’s schedules. Clint had figured it would work out perfectly to have Thanksgiving with his team and then head out first thing.

Scott’s family was coming too but they wouldn’t be there until that evening. He said that Paxton’s parents were supposed to be doing Thanksgiving that year so Scott was just going to stay at the compound with the Avengers. But apparently when he’s mentioned on the phone that Peter had never had a big Thanksgiving dinner before it had made Cassie feel bad. She had refused to go Paxton’s parents’ house because she wanted to help Peter have a good “first Thanksgiving” so they were flying to New York again.

Peter had felt a little bad about it but at the same time he sort of couldn’t stop smiling when Scott had told him.

“Don’t tell her I told you this,” Scott had said conspiratorially, leaning closer to Peter in a way that made him feel like he should lean closer too. “But I’m _pretty_ sure she thinks you’re cute.”

It would be a lie to say Peter hadn’t almost choked on the apple he’d been eating when he heard that.

“So, you’re making four?” Clint asked. “All one kind?”

“Yeah, just the one,” Tony answered, watching Peter pick every one of the small spice shakers and read the labels in his search for the right ones. “I figure doing one recipe times four is easier than trying more than one thing. We’ve never made any of these, you know.”

Before Clint could respond, Peter spun around and held his hands out, wiggling his fingers childishly. “Clint, toss me the book!”

The archer stuff a bookmark in and closed the cookbook before he tossed it over the counter where Peter caught it effortlessly.

“Having trouble?” Tony questioned, squirming a little in his chair and sighing slightly after he spoke.

Peter shook his head, not looking up from the book, which he’d opened back to their spot. “I just wanted to make sure I was spelling everything right in my head.”

Tony’s face scrunched up in amused confusion. “Why?”

“I don’t know, just ‘cause I was wondering. The shakers just have abbreviations, which is confusing because I don’t know enough about this stuff to know all the abbreviations and do they even have official abbreviations or was someone trying to be clever?” He glanced over at Tony with a raised eyebrow.

“Because I personally organized the cupboards in the kitchen,” Tony deadpanned.

Clint chuckled at that. “Why not? Aren’t you apparently a master chef now or something?”

“Working on it,” Tony answered without missing a beat. “But I wasn’t when we stocked this kitchen. Pete, did you get the eggs?”

“Yes,” Peter told him patiently, though he rolled his eyes a little. “You’ve asked that three times.”

“I keep forgetting. Put them somewhere I can see them,” his dad said in mock defense. “I look over and they’re not there and then I think you forgot them.”

A slow grin spread on Peter’s face and he bit his lip to try and rein it in.

“What?” Tony asked warily, narrowing his eyes.

“Nothing,” Peter responded _very_ unconvincingly. “Just thinking. Not gonna say it.”

Tony grabbed a plastic measuring spoon that was just close enough to reach and flung it at Peter, who caught it before his brain seemed to have caught up to the fact that it was there.

“Mature.” Peter smirked at him and set it down. “Seriously, I’m not saying it. It’ll get you all riled up and none of us want that.”

“Oh, just say it,” Clint prodded. “He’s already getting riled up because you’re not telling him.”

“Exactly,” Tony agreed. “ _So._ I said you should move the eggs where I can see them and you were going to say… what?”

Peter snorted and shook his head. “Just - well, after asking three times, not being able to see them shouldn’t be a problem. So maybe you’re getting kinda forgetful in your, uh, old age.” He said it quickly, rushing to get all the words out and turning pink at the ears as he anticipated Tony’s response to it.

Tony’s eyes widened and Clint didn’t even try not to laugh out loud.

“Hey, you said to tell you!” Peter defended, raising his eyebrows at Tony.

“Uh, yeah, but excuse you for thinking it,” Tony shot back, his tone offended. “I am not old.”

“I mean, ok, but you’re getting gray hair and… never mind,” Peter squeaked and went back to looking for ingredients when Tony raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to keep talking.

“‘Never mind’ is right, kid,” Tony grumbled, crossing his arms moodily.

“Um, ok, what’s next?” Peter asked with an exaggeratedly cheery tone as he attempted to change the subject.

Tony glared teasingly but let him get away with it. “I think that’s everything, actually, so we can get started now if you want.”

“And you’re going to do this how exactly?” Clint questioned, sounding genuinely curious. “You’re too low to the ground.”

“We’re doing it at the table,” Peter supplied with a smile and started gathering up ingredients and moving them to the kitchen table. He stopped before setting them down and looked over his shoulder at Clint. “Oh, hey, can you spread out the tablecloth? I forgot to.”

Clint noticed a disposable tablecloth folded up at one end of the table and nodded, going over to shake it open and lay it over the top of the table. Once it was reasonably even, Peter set down everything he already had and turned around for another armload.

Once they had everything, Tony got the book in front of him and Peter sat across from him. He listened intently while Tony told him what his first job was and then they got to work.

Clint sat at the end of the table to watch with a smirk on his face. It occurred to him that the two Starks were going about this like a science project. Exact measurements were very important and, aside from occasionally tossing flower at each other, they tried to keep the surfaces clean.

Apparently, Tony had started making muffins a while ago and it had taken forever to get to a point where the kitchen didn’t look like some kind of warzone by the time he was finished. By this point, he seemed to have gotten used to handling this kind of equipment and these sorts of ingredients.

“What are we going to do with pies if no one likes them?” Peter asked curiously. “Like, that’s a lot of pie. Not to mention time spent baking said pie… this is tiring.”

“First, stop being so unsupportive.” Tony chided, sending a glare towards Clint when he let out a snorted laugh. “Second, you’re not allowed to be tired. You’re my legs, remember?”

Peter rolled his eyes with a grin and switched on the blender. He looped his arms over the top and then brought them back down _very_ cautiously when nothing flew out.

Clint figured he didn’t even have to ask to know there had been a hilariously messy incident involving a blender and probably flour at some point in the tower.

Everything went surprisingly smoothly for the remainder of the pie making process and really the only thing they got wrong was one of the crusts. Tony did three of them since he’d gone significantly faster and Peter had done one.

Peter’s was a bit of a disaster but they just had to accept that it was the best it was going to get. Tony, however, assured Peter that he would make sure everyone knew which one he’d done. And of course he planned to follow through.

-

Peter had heard that Thanksgiving was often a time of family arguments. Really, it didn’t make a lot of sense to him. In the weeks leading up to it, Peter was used to hearing excitement for the break paired with dread over seeing difficult relatives. Then when everyone got back to school, it didn’t really seem like most people had experienced anything bad enough to do any lasting damage. He had trouble figuring out if people loved or hated it.

He knew Ned couldn’t wait for Thanksgiving because he had a lot of aunts who made signature dishes every year and would just generally fun to be around, even without their amazing cooking. And Peter knew this was true because he’d met them and, yeah, they were awesome. Ned also had a bunch of cousins who Peter knew he got along with and Thanksgiving was one of the only times they all got to be in the same place at once.

Now, Mary Jane on the other hand… MJ hated Thanksgiving. First of all, it was always just her immediate family and, while she wouldn’t give any details, Peter knew they didn’t get along that well. So, naturally, that wasn’t enjoyable. Second, she and her sister were the only ones any good at cooking but their mom felt that as the mother she should make all the food. So not even the food was any good. And third, MJ didn’t even like the holiday and had given a whole presentation in school about how Thanksgiving was a commercialized, self-indulgent, and altogether depressing holiday not three years ago so Peter knew she wasn’t all that fond of it to begin with.

He did know for a fact however that she loved going to her Aunt Anna’s house the next day for her famous Dutch apple pie. She’d even let Peter tag along last year because he’s been alone. May had been working extra shifts and Ben… well. Peter had been alone.

As far as Peter was concerned, this was really his first ever actual Thanksgiving dinner and he didn’t get what all the complaints were about. Sure, it got a little loud and hectic a few times but everyone was in a generally good mood so he hadn’t minded that do much.

There had been plenty of friendly bickering but no real fights and was it crazy that Peter almost wished there had been just a small one if it was really such a usual part of the holiday?

But no, it had really been a great day.

He’d felt a little bad about Scott’s family flying out last minute and had made certain to say multiple times how much he appreciated it. It turned out Scott really hadn’t been exaggerating about how much Cassie had wanted to be there because, after not five minutes of talking to her, Peter was pretty sure she really wouldn’t have stood for anything else.

And ok, Scott might’ve been right about more than just that.

“How’s MJ going to feel when she finds out she’s been replaced?” Tony asked just loud enough for Peter to hear when everyone sat down to eat and Cassie insisted that she had to be next to Peter.

Peter just rolled his eyes and bumped his dad’s shoulder. Normally, he would’ve elbowed him in the side but Tony was still healing so he was spared.

“And guess what?” Cassie was gushing to Peter, turned almost sideways in her chair to see him better. “My gymnastics teacher said I’m a natural! That means I’m really good. Mommy said I have to wait until after dinner but then I can show you how I can do a backflip! And you have to show me how you can, ok?”

“Sure,” Peter agreed, laughing at how excited it got her.

“How long did you have to do gymnastics before you could crawl on walls and stick to everything?” Cassie asked just as Peter went to take a drink.

“What? No,” he spluttered, hand flying up to his mouth. Suddenly, there was a napkin being shoved in front of his face and he just chose to ignore Tony’s laughter as he snatched it and cleaned up the small mess he’d made.

“Honey, no,” Cassie’s mom, Maggie, said before Peter had to answer. “That’s not part of gymnastics. Mr. Stark made Peter a fancy suit so he could do stuff like that.”

Cassie looked up at Peter with a disappointed frown. “Really? But then why did you take gymnastics?”

“Uh, I didn’t…” Peter told her, trying not to wince and mentally telling himself that he _really_ didn’t have to be guilty about not having taken gymnastics. It wasn’t like he’d ever said he had. “I just kinda… started doing that stuff when I became Spider-Man. So you’ve kinda got an advantage already, huh?”

Cassie was positively beaming at that and Maggie’s interjection about how of course Cassie wouldn’t be a superhero didn’t really do anything to deter her renewed good spirits.

“I just want to add though,” Tony put in, casually draping an arm across the back of Peter’s chair. “That Peter could do all that stuff before I even met him. I just try to keep him safe and give him some more assets with the suit, that’s all. The climby, flippy stuff is all Peter.”

“I mean, it’s cooler with the suit,” Peter mumbled awkwardly, ignoring the amused grin Tony got when his cheeks went red.

Cassie’s grin only grew at that as she stared at Peter with the perfect definition of starry eyes he’d ever seen. “Wow,” was all she said, though quite reverently.

Peter breathed an awkward laugh, unsure of what else to do, and busied himself with clearing his plate of its contents.

It wasn’t that he minded how bad May had always been at cooking because he really never had… but Peter had definitely missing out on Thanksgiving dinners. Thanksgiving with Ben and May had always meant either a shaky attempt at a home cooked meal or takeout. Of course, he’s kind of known that he was missing out for a few years just from eating leftovers from Ned’s family when he went to hang out there literally for weeks afterward. But this was even better than that was because this was all fresh! And the variety of people meant a variety of foods. They had all kinds of traditional Thanksgiving foods as well as more unusual things, which Peter had no problem eating as well.

About halfway through their meal, Steve suggested that they all take turns saying what they’re thankful for, which only some people took seriously. That was ok though. Shared laughter was better than everyone walking on eggshells around each other so no one said anything about the people who decided they’d rather say something sarcastic or try and get a laugh than be genuine about it. Besides, they all had their reasons for it.

Like when Tony made some comment about being thankful that Thor wasn’t there so everyone else could actually get some food. Everyone sort of knew it was because he wasn’t really comfortable saying anything else. Although when he followed it up by nudging Peter’s side and winking at him, they all knew what he really meant anyway.

Cassie had a whole list of what she was thankful for, which included her daddy letting her meet Spider-Man and ended with something about her pet ant. She then proceeded to tell Peter all about how she’d wanted to bring her pet so Peter could meet her but had been told by her parents that the ant was too big to go with them in the plane. That both fascinated and horrified Peter, who of course told Cassie that he would be more than happy to come visit and meet her ant when he could.

The pies Tony and Peter had made were so well liked they wondered if they shouldn’t have made more. Although he would’ve like to have more of it himself, it was Tony’s opinion that the best thing about it was seeing how shocked everyone was that he knew what he was doing enough to make an actually good pie. He was more than happy to tell them, in admittedly smug fashion, that he had told them so.

Both Starks got out of helping to clear the table and put away with leftovers. Tony had the obvious excuse of being in a wheelchair and Peter had apparently been named choice babysitter so he was playing with the kids the second everyone got up.

It was Peter’s opinion that Thanksgiving was definitely a good holiday.

-

“Well, kid,” Tony sighed once there was finally some quiet. Everyone had gone to their rooms and called it a day. The kids had been sent to bed earlier in the evening in order to make getting up and leaving in the morning an easier thing to do. The rest of them had stayed up talking and putting together puzzles at the table. Now, with everyone gone down the hall, it was just the two of them, sitting quietly in their little room. “Last night. This has been something, huh?”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed softly, nodding a little. “Do you think going back home again will be hard after being away so long?”

Tony shook his head. “Nah. Not too hard. Pretty soon, everything’ll be normal and we’ll forget any of this ever even happened, ok?”

His son didn’t look at all convinced. Still, he nodded again, this time accompanied by a sigh.

“It’ll be fine,” Tony said, though he wasn’t really sure if he was speaking to Peter or himself. “We’ll slip right back into our old routine. And I’m sure Happy’s been taking great care of everything at the tower so everything’s going to be just fine.”

“Yeah… ok, Dad,” Peter sighed again, tugging on his sweatshirt and plopping himself in the chair by Tony’s bed, opening one of the books Mary Jane had leant him and preparing to get through a chapter before bed.

He only got through one paragraph before Tony cleared his throat and started tapping Peter’s arm with the backs of his fingers.

Peter shut his book and raised a questioning eyebrow at Tony.

“Is that just it now?” Tony asked him.

“Hmm?”

Tony huffed, rolling his eyes slightly as if he was feeling put out at having to explain himself. “‘Dad’. Is that it now? Am I just ‘Dad’? No more ‘Tony’?”

Peter’s face flushed at the question he clearly hadn’t been expecting to hear. He opened his mouth and almost immediately closed it again.

“Well, I’m just saying,” Tony started again when Peter didn’t say anything. “I don’t think you’ve called me ‘Tony’ once since we came here. I was just wondering if that’s… a permanent thing or not. Is that all you’re going to call me now?”

“Um… ok,” Peter said, eyebrows pinching together as he seemingly tried to read Tony’s mind. Then he gave a rapid nod and bit his lip. “Right. Uh, I can - I can call you whatever. Really, I don’t care. I - I know I’m not that consistent but I can try and… I mean… I don’t know,” he admitted, the last part quieter than the rest. “I guess… is that ok? If you’re just ‘Dad’?”

“Hey,” Tony said with a fond and reassuring smile. “That is completely ok. I’m not upset at you, kid. I just wanted to talk about it. I never want you to feel like you have to call me anything but it’s more than ok if I’m just ‘Dad’ now, all right?”

Peter was unable to hold back a wide grin at that as he nodded. “Ok. Ok, cool. I guess, uh - I guess you’re just ‘Dad’ then. I like it like that.”

Neither of them said anything right away. There wasn’t really anything else they _needed_ to say. It wasn’t a bad silence. Rather, it was comfortable as they both thought to themselves over what had just been said.

“Hey, Peter,” Tony said again, regaining the teenager’s attention after he’d shifted focus for a moment. “I love being your dad. And I love you.”

He let out a breath, almost a laugh, as he smiled. “Me too. I love you too, I mean.”

“You’re saying that more too,” Tony pointed out thoughtfully. “Not that I mind.”

Peter nodded and waited a moment before he said anything. “Yeah… Yeah I guess I don’t want to have to… wish I’d said it more.”

 _If you die_ didn’t have to be said.

Tony nodded slowly. “Yeah. I get it, kid. I know I say it a lot… I think I really am trying to make up for lost time or something. I mean, I know you’ve always had someone so it’s not like you were missing anything not knowing me until recently but…” he trailed off and shrugged. He didn’t keep speaking until Peter nodded encouragingly. “I still wish I could’ve been there for you the whole time. But it’s really better this way, isn’t it?”

“Why?” Peter questioned, eyebrows furrowed.

“Well, I think we both now I could never have been someone’s dad before, Pete,” Tony answered too casually for Peter’s liking. Like it was just a simple fact that somehow mattered more than it really did. “I never thought I’d be a dad. Sometimes I can’t really wrap my mind around the fact that I kind of am now.”

Peter shook his head and frowned. “Not ‘kind of’,” he corrected. “You _are_.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed, smiling softly. “I am now. That’s what matters. You’re right.”

There wasn’t much more either of them felt a need to say that night, though neither of them seemed able to stop smiling anyway. They slipped back into their companionable silence  without a problem until it was time to go to bed. Then, they broke the silence with another exchange of “I love you”s and turned out the lights.

If this was what Thanksgiving was always going to be like now, then Peter couldn’t wait for it to come around again next year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so while I still can't guarantee weekly chapters, I'm thinking that when I do update the story it'll be on Friday or Saturday from now on.


	44. Chapter Forty-Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, readers... it's been a while.
> 
> If you're still around and reading this, then thank you! I really appreciate it!
> 
> Unfortunately, I have no idea how frequent updates are gonna be from here to the end of the story but... well, I'm trying. What else can I say?

The weekend seemed to fly by before they had a chance to really notice.

The two of them mostly just stayed on the couch together. Tony was glad to get out of his chair, which he promptly started to dissect and improve upon. He’d planned on being out of it in a week but after being told by the doctors that he’d need to be in the wheelchair at least into the middle of December the next best thing seemed to be to make it better.

Being back in the tower with no Avengers hanging around and the two of them just sitting where they always did on the couch, it was almost possible to pretend everything was fine. Tony had a few meetings he’d have to go to that week and other than being in a wheelchair it wouldn’t be any different than usual. Peter would go back to school on Monday and once the knowledge that he’d returned had died down - according to his friends, there was a rumor going around that he’d be home schooled from then on - that would be just like normal too.

But then they’d turn on the news and everyone was still talking about what had happened. Tony had made some official statement through the company saying that he was fine and was laying low for a while and focusing on company business. It wasn’t a lie… There wasn’t much else he really  _ could _ do and they weren’t going to tell the public that he was just sitting around tinkering all day. It didn’t sound very productive or reassuring.

Since getting back to the city, there had been calls coming in constantly. Tony had been blocking all calls except from select people while they’d been upstate but now that he was back, everyone wanted to talk to him and no one wanted to wait. He’d even spoken with Pepper for about an hour, only half of which was spent talking business. Since they’d broken up the last time, they never really spoke about much outside of the company and she’d decided to relocate to Malibu when he’d stopped going back there. Something about giving each other space.

Still, she’d called and had been genuinely worried about him, which he appreciated regardless of how incredibly awkward it felt to talk her even after so long. She’d offered to come to New York if there was anything she could do to make things easier but what good would that really do? And so he’d turned her down casually and insisted that Malibu might break down without her there anyway. After that, the conversation had shifted to work, which was what normal now was when it came to their relationship.

If they hadn’t spoken, Tony might not have remembered the talk he was supposed to give at MIT in the first week of December. He decided to view it as a deadline to get his wheelchair all worked out. He’d have to use it then, unfortunately, and it simply wouldn’t do to go in a half decent one rather than a Stark improved model.

But even with the little things that make the weekend so decidedly  _ not _ normal, it’s just not much of an issue until Monday morning.

They’d planned on it already, of course. On Monday, Peter would go to school and a few hours later Tony would be heading to a meeting a few floors down. They would see each other in the morning, when Peter helped Tony out of bed and got them both breakfast, and then they would be apart from each other until Peter got home. They’d text as much as they needed or wanted to but they knew they wouldn’t be with each other for most of the day.

It shouldn’t have been so hard.

Since getting back to the tower, they’d been sleeping in their own rooms and that had been fine. The only problem was that Tony really wanted to just be able to get out of bed on his own so Peter had to make sure he was in there before his dad fell on the floor trying to get up. But it had really been fine. It didn’t really matter that they’d been together pretty much twenty-four/seven since Tony had gotten hurt. Being separated wasn’t that bad.

Apparently being so separated that you were no longer in the same building was an entirely different story.

Peter hadn’t been gone for more than two hours and Tony had absolutely no clue what to do with himself. Happy was around and trying to tell Tony that Peter would be back before he knew it and that this meeting would eat up most of the day anyway. But being in a meeting while Peter was at school didn’t make them any less separated. 

Tony was getting **Are you doing ok?** text messages every ten minutes or so from Peter and they were honestly making him more anxious. Even though he knew Peter had more reason to be worried at the moment, all Tony wanted to do was reply  **Are** **_you?_ ** each time. Reading the question was making him think he should be the one asking it.

And the more he thought, the more reasons he thought of as to why maybe Peter wouldn’t be ok… 

Most of them, if not all, involved one Norman Osborn one way or another.

Eventually, he really did have to go to his meeting. Of course, it didn’t stop him from checking his phone and texting Peter constantly. He was a little surprised at first when he didn’t receive a single text from Peter telling him that texting in class wasn’t allowed and he would get in trouble. 

On his second thought about it though, he really wasn’t that surprised given the circumstances…

-

“I swear, if one more person asks me if he’s dead, I’m gonna scream,” Peter muttered through clenched teeth, sunken down low in his seat at the back of the class. The seating at Midtown wasn’t assigned but everyone pretty much just stuck with whatever seat they had on the first day of every class. Most of Peter’s seats were close to the middle but this was one of the ones he’d been fortunate enough to snag a back row seat in. Since becoming Spider-Man, the back at seemed ideal to him in case he needed to slip out quickly. 

“I mean, yeah, but everyone’s just been worried about you guys,” Ned responded, trying to keep his voice down but not doing a much better job of it than usual. Of course, this particular teacher never seemed to notice so it was probably fine. “And it’s really unlike Tony Stark to just… not say anything. He’s always saying  _ something _ , you know?”

Peter rolled eyes and shrugged. “I guess.” He tugged his phone out of his pocket, frowning when there were no new text notifications. But, well, it had only been fifteen minutes since the last time he and Tony had texted each other so it was probably fine… Still…

**Everything still going ok?**

Tony’s response was almost instantaneous.

**Affirmative. You?**

Nothing at all had changed for Peter so he opted out of responding to the question. He’d been feeling pretty bombarded by students as well as teachers the whole day and his head hurt. That had been depressingly consistent.

**How are your legs? You’re not moving by yourself, are you?**

“Peter, stop texting in class,” he heard someone whisper from in front of him and just the side. When he glanced up, he saw Flash leaning back in his seat to face him. “You’ll get your phone taken from you.”

In what was perhaps not his most mature moment, Peter just pulled a face and looked back down to see what Tony had said, choosing to ignore Flash’s exaggerated eye roll before turning back around.

**I’m fine. Happy’s right here to wheel me around so stop worrying.**

He was in the middle of typing his response when Ned nudged him arm.

“Flash is probably right.”

“No, he’s not,” was all Peter said before looking back at his phone. Sure, there was a chance a teacher would say something… But Peter was pretty sure no one would actually take his phone. Each of them who’d talked to him had suggested he talk to the school counselor so he figured they all thought he was emotionally unstable. He’d told them all that he was going to just stay in contact with Tony throughout the day and he’d be fine so they all knew what he was doing.

He’d be very surprised if any of them decided to give him detention over it.

It turned out he was completely right about that. There were a couple times within that class alone where the teacher looked back at him, noticed the phone, and seemed to be about to say something before giving him nothing more than a patient smile and moving on. According to Ned, he was taking advantage of how understanding people were being. No one else seemed to care, however, so Peter decided it didn’t really matter.

Besides, annoying teachers and students at school didn’t upset Peter enough for him to just  _ stop _ checking that his dad was ok.

“ _ Peter _ .”

His eyes shot up from his phone to look at the person sitting across from him in the library. Mary Jane.

The crease in her brow told him that she was worrying about him again. Normally, he’d feel bad and kinda like it at the same time. At that particular moment, he wasn’t thinking about it that much.

“Yeah?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “I’ve been saying your name for at least five minutes, Tiger. I don’t think you even  _ blinked _ in that time.”

Peter frowned and tilted his head to the side. “Really? I don’t… I think I would’ve noticed.”

“Yeah, well… you didn’t, apparently.”

His frown deepened but he didn’t say anything. After a moment of staring silently at each other, he started to tap his fingertips on the table in an effort to keep from grabbing his again. It was currently sitting face-down right in front of him on the table and he wasn’t sure if Tony had texted back yet. They’d been talking about the meeting Tony was stuck in and Peter had asked him if his pain levels had changed at all in the past hour. It was an important question.

“So…” MJ sighed finally. “Are you planning to come get lunch or what? Everyone’s already at our table and we have space saved for you.”

“Uh,” he grimaced. “No, probably not. Thanks though, really. I - I appreciate it. I just, you know, I need to stay here and… I was planning to do some studying in here while it’s quieter.”

MJ looked completely unconvinced. Maybe even disappointed. “We’re all worried about you, Peter. I get that you’re worried about Tony and you were out of school for a while so coming back is probably kinda weird. But you’re just really… disconnected. You said you were fine when we were texting last night.”

It sounded almost like an accusation.

Peter bit him lip and nodded slowly. “I… I know. I’m sorry. I - Honestly, Mary Jane, I  _ thought _ I was fine. Or… I thought I would be fine coming to school. But I’m just…”

“Worried?”

He nodded again. “Yeah.”

“Well, how can we make it better? We just want to help you. Wouldn’t talking to your friends make it easier?”

“I don’t know if…” He trailed off and shook his head slightly. “I’ll let you know if I think of anything, ok? For right now, can you just let me sit here for a while and text my dad?”

She didn’t answer right away, expression displaying even more concern. Then she offered a small and somewhat shaky smile, pushing her chair back and standing up. “Yeah. But we’re there when you’re ready, ok?”

She waited for a nod from him before she left to go back to the cafeteria. In an attempt to not look like he’d completely lost it, Peter waited until she was all the way out of his sight before he looked at his phone again.

The day went forward with more of the same and Peter became increasingly frustrated with the fact that he was in school. He really hadn’t even begun to predict that it would bother him so much. It didn’t matter how many times Tony told him he was fine because Peter couldn’t see that for himself so it just wasn’t enough to stop him from worrying.

It was entirely likely that he wasn’t going to remember a single word from any teachers’ lectures that day. He’d hardly remember any words exchanged by his friends either. Most of them were the same anyway. Lots of concern for his wellbeing and only slightly desperate pleas to turn off his phone.

Ned insisted on walking home with Peter after school since he didn’t trust his friend to pay attention to his surroundings. Apparently, he didn’t think Peter’s spider sense was going to make any difference if he crossed the street with his eyes glued to his phone. In Peter’s opinion, that was dumb because he would certainly sense any danger long before anything had a chance to happen. But he didn’t care enough about it so argue for very long so he let it go and agreed to let Ned walk with him.

Mary Jane ended up coming along to and Peter only felt a little bad when they all turned down Harry’s offer to drive them. Sure, it might’ve made the texting part a little easier but with the traffic Peter figured he’d get back to the tower faster on foot anyway. That and he didn’t want to stress Tony out…

His friends talked the whole day to the tower and Peter didn’t pay attention to any of it. He knew they were talking about some assignment they’d gotten that day but he’d only listened long enough to get that it was from a class he didn’t have with them that year. That was a perfect excuse to just not listen.

The second they were at the tower, Peter said just about the fastest goodbye he could manage and went straight for the private elevator. And ok, so maybe it was kind of rude to not even invite them up or anything after he’d basically ignored them all day… But he could worry about that later. Tony hadn’t been answering his last few texts and Peter was trying not to panic prematurely so he would just apologise to his friends later.

He was able to breathe easier once the elevator doors opened and he saw why his dad had stopped answering him. Apparently, he’d fallen asleep on the couch. He looked relatively fine, all things considered.

“Oh good, you’re home,” Happy said flatly from where Peter had only just noticed he was sitting at the kitchen table. He clicked off his tablet and pushed out his chair. “He’s been all worried about you since he got out of his meetings. Probably during them too.”

“How long’s he been out?” Peter asked, shrugged off his backpack and leaving it on the floor by the elevator as he walked farther into the room.

“I don’t know. Ten minutes, maybe?” Happy guessed. “I’ve got some work things I need to take care of so are you ok if I leave for an hour or two? I’ll come right back up if you need me. You just have to tell FRIDAY to get me and I’ll be here, ok?”

Peter nodded and offered a quick smile he hoped was reassuring. “Sure. I’m just gonna sit with him. We should be ok.”

Happy nodded and slid his now unoccupied chair back into place before he left, reminding Peter again that he’d be back as fast as he could managed if they needed him.

Tony was awake the second Peter sat down on the other end of the couch, apparently having been sleeping pretty slightly. His eyes widened a fraction when they landed on Peter. “Kid! You’re back,” he observed.

“Yeah, I just got home. How are you feeling?”

“Not great,” he admitted. “I could use a drink.”

Peter frowned. “Yeah? Like what?”

“Chocolate milk,” Tony deadpanned, getting a grin out of Peter.

“Seriously?”

He tilted his head to the side and pursed his lips before nodding. “Sure. Why not?”

“Yeah, ok,” Peter chuckled, getting up from the couch and heading to the kitchen. He got out the milk and a bottle of chocolate syrup - a cheap supermarket brand that Tony had probably picked up the last time he’d gone grocery shopping in the middle of the night - and set them on the counter. “Hey, can I use one of your cocktail shakers to make this?”

Tony stared incredulously from the couch. “Why in the world would you do that?”

Peter frowned and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess ‘cause it’s fun. And you don’t use them anymore anyway so… might as well, right?”

“Yeah, fine. Knock yourself out,” Tony told him with a snorted laugh.

Peter grinned again and grabbed one from one of the top cupboards where Tony had put everything remotely related to that. Once he was finished with it and had rinsed it out, he got a piece of masking tape to put on it as a label.

**For chocolate milk**

“This is going somewhere easier to get to now,” he announced before putting the shaker in one of the lower cupboards. “And it’s only for chocolate milk.”

“Sure,” Tony agreed, shrugging and holding out a hand as a silent request for Peter to just bring him the cup already. “How was school?”

Peter rolled his eyes on his way back to the couch. Once he had handed Tony his drink, he sank into his place on the couch, grabbed a pillow and hugged it to his chest, resting his chin on top. “Stupid. I think I should stay here tomorrow. I was just worried about you all day and I didn’t even learn anything so there’s not really any point. Plus, everyone wants to talk to me and ask about you and I don’t want to talk to them.”

Tony hummed thoughtfully, then tipped back his glass and took a gulp of his chocolate milk. “Yeah, well, you’re still going to school tomorrow.”

“But, Dad, you’re still hurt anyway so I could just stay and help you and -”

“Absolutely not,” his dad cut him off firmly. “As much as I’d like to have you around, you are not missing anymore school on my account, understood?”

“But, you -”

“I have Happy. I’ll be fine,” Tony told him dismissively. “And school’s not going to get any better if you just stop trying.”

“Ok, but maybe -”

“ _ Peter _ ,” Tony interrupted sharply, wincing straight afterwards. “Just - No. You aren’t skipping anymore school. Finish this school year and  _ then  _ we can talk about not going. And stop pouting at me. I’m injured and slightly irritable so let’s just not, agreed?”

Peter stared dryly at Tony for a minute and finally nodded concedingly, nestling further into the cushion and sighing softly. “Sorry, Dad. I’m not trying to stress you out. I just want to help you get better.”

“I know, kid. And I love that but let’s just… keep trying to let things go back to normal for now, deal?”

“Deal.”

-

“Ugh, can I just turn around and go home?” Peter asked Ned almost the second they walked through the doors of the school because, of course, it couldn’t really be that simple. He’d tried to  _ not _ tell himself the day would be awful. He’d gotten up and ready to go early so he could still help Tony get ready for the day too. He’d met Ned halfway between the tower and school like he’d agreed to do so Tony wouldn’t have to worry quite as much and he agreed to it in the first place.

But none of that could truly make the day somehow be fine. He could cooperate completely but it wouldn’t mean that he actually wanted to be there. And it was horrible even this early on in the day.

Not a full foot into the hall and he could already hear people talking about Tony. Because why not? Apparently there was just nothing better to talk about at all and, really, Peter was sick of it. It was only day two and he was just sick of it.

“Um, I’m not sure I really have the authority to say yes or no to that one,” Ned chuckled a little uncomfortably. “I mean, I thought he wanted you to go to school. So, if you don’t, won’t that let him down?”

Peter rolled his eyes and no, it wasn’t an over-the-top teenaged kind of response at all. Totally justified and appropriate. “Well, it sucks.”

It was just then that he heard an older boy a few feet away saying something along the lines of, “I bet Stark’s just embarrassed that he totally ate it and that’s why he’s hiding out in that ridiculous tower,” to his friend, who laughed as if he’d just heard the single greatest burn in history. And then, as if he hadn’t already angered Peter enough, he started talking about Iron Man didn’t contribute anything but money to the Avengers anyway and they were better off without him if he wanted to throw a pity party.

Surprisingly enough, the only thing that ended up stopping Peter from going straight over to punch him in the face was Flash Thompson. Sparing a quick and perhaps worried glance in Peter’s direction, Flash came up to the other student and almost casually shoved him back into his locker, delivering a quiet warning - or maybe threat - which only earned him a glare in return, though the other boy  _ did _ stop talking about it as he walked away.

Peter was still staring after him when Flash’s hand waving in front of his face brought him back into focus.

“Hey, man,” Flash said cautiously, eyebrows pinched together. “Relax. Just shake it off.”

Peter nodded, though he was frowning out of confusion at what had even just happened. Had Flash really just heard someone talking crap about Peter’s dad and gone to stand up for him? Sure, they had been on better terms lately but really?

“Peter, you ok?”

It was when Ned spoke that Peter noticed Fash was walking on his own down the hall before Peter had gotten a chance to say anything. How long had he stood there waiting?

He shook his head and sighed harshly. “Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s just go to class.”

He didn’t wait for a response before practically charging down the hall. As overly aware as he was of the people looking at him as he weaved his way through the people, skipping his usual stop at his locker altogether, Peter refused to acknowledge any of them. The only person he paid any actually attention to was Ned, who he looked back at a couple times to confirm that they were still together.

The faster he could get through the day, the better. He had decided that not talking to anyone or listening to their conversations about his dad was a good way to go.


	45. Chapter Forty-Five

Tony was sick and tired of the whole thing.

He was working again, though he was also still taking it easy. When Peter wasn’t at school, they spent most of their time watching tv or in the workshop. They were working on Peter’s vespa and making considerable progress. Peter still loved it, yes, but he didn’t seem to be enjoying fixing it up as much as Tony had thought he would. Sometimes Happy would sit with him in the workshop when Peter wasn’t at home and the problem was that Tony’s starting to prefer those times.

Peter was feeling restless and really just a little angry with the world. He kept coming home from school feeling discouraged and frustrated because apparently the other kids wouldn’t stop talking about Tony and it had begun to branch out. It wasn’t just about him getting hurt anymore and Tony suspected that none of the rest of it was new but for whatever reason they were less concerned then with talking about it in front of Peter.

Everyone has an opinion about Tony Stark and some of them just aren’t as positive as Peter’s, which was a surprise to no one since Tony was pretty sure no one ever liked him as well as Peter did. But Peter didn’t like hearing everyone else’s opinions and who could blame him? What kid would want to go to school and hear everyone calling their dad a coward or a hypocrite or a liar or a heartless monster or whatever else they come up with?

So Peter was maybe not the best company at the moment. He didn’t want to leave Tony’s side and, yes, that was mostly Tony’s fault since he kept trying to do everything on his own even if he couldn’t yet.

To Peter, it was his job to take care of Tony right then. He was angry at nearly everyone  _ but _ Tony and he was constantly worried. 

Of course, Tony’s problem with it wasn’t really about anything Peter was doing or feeling. He could put up with just about anything Peter threw at him and he sort of knew there were going to be lots of teenaged emotions so that wasn’t the issue.

No, Tony himself was the problem here. Because to Tony, it was all his fault. If he could just be better, then Peter wouldn’t have to feel so awful. It wouldn’t be his kid’s job to take care of him. Maybe people would at least talk less.

Tony hated feeling weak. He especially hated feeling like he couldn’t take care of Peter.

He was supposed to be the dad, wasn’t he? But he was stuck in a wheelchair and incapable of getting through a day without Peter and Happy there to help him. So yeah, he felt pretty useless.

Spending time with Peter should’ve been more enjoyable but instead he just felt guilty the whole time. Peter never seemed to be doing anything other than worrying about him and Tony hated it.

“Maybe this was all a mistake,” Tony said miserably, head tilted back to rest against the top of the leather couch. He’d been sitting there for nearly seven hours straight. “Was this all a mistake?”

He didn’t receive an answer so he had to force himself to look up again. He was met with two faces wearing matching concerned and yet unimpressed expressions. 

Rhodey had come to the tower the evening before and was staying for at least a couple days. He said it was mostly because he had to be in the city but he had to actually leave the tower so Tony wasn’t sure he believed him. Instead, he and Happy had been sitting with Tony almost the entire time that he’d been on the couch and didn’t seem to be gearing up to leave anytime soon.

If nothing else, Rhodey had been helpful in convincing Peter to get out the door in the morning, which was something that Tony was finding to be an increasingly tiring and difficult task.

Tony raised his eyebrows at his two friends expectantly. “I asked a question. Don’t be rude.”

Happy rolled his eyes and asked through a sigh, “Was  _ what _ all a mistake?”

“Yeah,” Rhodey chimed in, narrowing his eyes slightly. “I don’t feel comfortable answering if I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Tony sent them both a glare before tipping his head back again. If he was being honest, he was more annoyed at himself than them. He didn’t  _ want _ to voice his thoughts. “Just… everything. Am I making everything worse?”

There was a beat of silence.

“For Peter, you mean?” Rhodey asked softly.

Tony closed his eyes and exhaled slowly through his nose. Yes, that was exactly what he meant. But he didn’t think he could say it. “I was supposed to be helping him. His life was supposed to get better and now… Now, this.”

“Tony, none of this is your fault,” Happy told him with no detectable hesitation. “And you have to know Peter doesn’t think it is either.”

“That…” Tony began, “is part of the problem. He still  _ looks up _ to me, while he’s the one taking care of  _ me _ . He’s miserable at school and can’t stop worrying and it’s my fault and he doesn’t even blame me.”

He knew what Rhodey was going to say before he even had to say it.

“It’s not your fault. He doesn’t need to blame you.”

Tony straightened up and shoved a hand through his hair. “Whether or not what happened was my fault, I’m not doing my job as the dad. So what if this was bound to happen? What if I made a mistake?”

“And how do you think Peter would feel if he heard you saying that, huh?” Rhodey challenged him, though not unkindly. He got up from his seat when Tony didn’t answer and came to sit closer to the other man. “Tones, you gotta stop beating up on yourself. It’s not helping either of you.”

In a way, Tony knew Rhodey was right. He couldn’t come up with any sufficient arguments otherwise, anyway. But it didn’t help as much as it should have. Even if he knew he was wrong, he couldn’t stop repeating the same feelings in his head.

He’d been telling it to himself for days and wasn’t likely to stop just because Rhodey was here and actively arguing him on it. Those thoughts just wouldn’t leave his head, no matter how much he wished they would. It was making everything harder to do.

Getting out of bed in the morning felt pointless and he found himself dreading it. If he hadn’t had Peter and Happy and now Rhodey there to make sure he ate, he wouldn’t remember or bother to it. Showering and getting dressed felt pointless if he didn’t have a meeting to go to and even then he didn’t feel that motivated.

Sleeping was the hardest though and he had to specifically reprogram FRIDAY to make sure she wouldn’t wake Peter up if he was having a nightmare. Just telling her wasn’t enough since he’d picked up on easily swayed she tended to be if Peter told her it was to help Tony. If nothing else, the kid should at least be able to sleep through the night and he didn’t have to know about it at all.

The nightmares were becoming quite frequent. He knew Peter was having them too and hated more than anything that he couldn’t go and comfort him. Instead, Happy had been trying his best to take care of that. He was temporarily staying in a room between theirs so he could be right there to help them both. So, since Happy could actually walk on his own, he was the one FRIDAY had started alerting when Peter needed someone.

Tony wanted to tell FRIDAY to tell him instead but didn’t do it. He knew he couldn’t help.

And that was really the whole problem, wasn’t it?

-

“Peter, if you glare any harder, I think you may develop laser vision and burn a hole through someone.”

MJ and Peter were standing at his locker midway through the day. She’d been in the middle of what was essentially an oral book report on whatever it was she had been reading the night before but had let it die when she realized he’d stopped listening to her entirely.

Peter rolled his eyes at MJ’s comment and tried to wrestle the smile that was attempting to form on his lips. He blinked a few times to try and shake off the harsh expression on his face, turning to face his locker again.

She leaned a few inches closer to him and lowered her voice when she spoke again, laying a hand over his when he started fumbling with his books. “Hey. You need to stop listening to them.”

He smiled humorlessly and nodded, not meeting her eyes. “Yeah. Thanks for that.”

“Peter,” she said almost sadly. “Don’t do that.  _ Please _ , don’t do that.”

“Do  _ what _ ?” he questioned, his tone challenging her.

MJ rarely turned down a challenge. Peter had learned long ago that the best way to get her riled up was to say something - almost anything, really - in a challenging tone. Flash used to think it was funny until he realized he couldn’t beat her in a debate and didn’t  _ really _ want to make himself a target.

But Peter had never been one to start unnecessary conflict and especially not with someone like MJ. Normally, there would be no reason for him to respond to her like that. 

She knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it and wasn’t going to bite. “Being antagonistic isn’t going to help you, you know. I’m actually trying to help you.”

He deflated almost immediately and MJ knew she’d been right. Peter wasn’t actually mad at her. He was mad at just about everyone else and was taking it out on someone safe. That was why the best word to describe his demeanor recently would be ‘bitter’.

He mumbled something that almost resembled the word ‘sorry’ and then shut his locker a little too loudly. “I want to go home.”

If she hadn’t thought it would just frustrate him even more, MJ would’ve told Peter that saying it repeatedly wasn’t going to make it happen. Instead, she nudged his shoulder gently. “I know. You just have to get through the rest of the day.”

“Maybe I don’t want to,” Peter moaned, tipping his head back. “Maybe I want to just dropout.”

“Maybe that’s not a real option.”

“Fine, but I  _ want _ it to be though,” he told her, though he knew it didn’t really matter. “I want everything to just be good now. I’m tired of everything being…  _ bad _ .”

“Eloquent,” she said dryly, smirking at him slightly. She grabbed his arm and tugged gently. “Come on. Get through a few more classes and you’re home free.”

He only stared for a minute, then nodded and let himself be pulled away from his locker. 

-

Sam Wilson liked to make people have conversations, apparently.

No one was expecting him to show up at the tower and yet there he was. It was his opinion, as he expressed to Tony and Peter a couple times, that they both need some outside emotional support. So there he was.

“And - just assuming for a second that you’re right - why should we talk to  _ you _ specifically?” Tony had asked when Sam had first arrived.

“You know I was a counselor, right?” Sam responded, only sort of smirking at him. “You two are both pretty traumatized in my, uh,  _ professional opinion _ and I thought it might be good for you to be able to talk about everything to someone other than each other.”

Sam started coming over every couple days, even though both of the Starks insisted that it wasn’t necessary. He didn’t push either of them to talk to him but made it very clear that it was an option and that he encouraged it.

On days that he was there, he’d usually make dinner when Peter got home from school. Peter, being in an increasingly bad mood, refused to say anythings remotely nice about the food even if he liked it.

That didn’t matter to Sam, who was apparently determined to be as pleasant and easygoing as was humanly possible.

“Well, there’s always next time,” he’d say easily, each time time Peter acted like he didn’t like it at all.

It was infuriating.

Tony was nicer about it, actually, even though he wanted to be the one cooking. It wasn’t very easy to do from a wheelchair. He was also not nearly as bothered by Sam being there, which Sam suspected was because he was just too exhausted to keep protesting everything.

It wasn’t long before Tony finally started talking to him. It was always when Peter was gone and mostly  _ about _ Peter as well. After a while, he didn’t even mind that he was sharing his feelings.

Peter was definitely another story.

He said that he only needed to talk to Tony. But that was part of the problem.

According to Tony, Peter  _ wasn’t _ talking to him. He hadn’t said it but it was fairly obvious that he just didn’t want to burden Tony.

“It’s just that he used to talk to me about everything,” Tony told Sam dejectedly. “I’m his dad now and I’m supposed to be someone he can go to but now he suddenly won’t.”

“I know, Tony, but I think he just needs more time. And you know he’s trying to help  _ you. _ ”

“But I don’t think he needs to do that.”

A slow smile grew on the other man’s face. “Right, but Peter doesn’t agree, apparently,” Sam said, raising one eyebrow. “But maybe if he didn’t think you  _ needed _ help… he’d stop. So let’s focus on you for now, okay? Let me ask you a question,” he continued before giving Tony a chance to speak. “Have you ever tried any medication?”

“Sure, I’m on loads of pain meds,” Tony answered without missing a beat.

He was met with an unimpressed glare. “Not what I meant.”

Tony inhaled slowly, looking away and pursing his lips, then deflating slightly. “Some, yeah.”

“For what? Do you feel like it helped?”

“Slow down,” he said dryly, rolling his eyes. “Just insomnia and anxiety. That kind of thing. And yeah, I guess it helped. Didn’t need it anymore, anyway.”

Sam did that frustrating therapist nod where you can’t tell what they’re thinking.

“Just say something. I can tell you want to.”

Sam rolled his eyes but smiled a little. “Stop being smug. I think you should try the medication again. Oh, don’t look at me like that! There’s nothing wrong with being on medication and literally just said it helped you.”

Tony didn’t say anything at first. Fidgeting slightly in his wheelchair, he closed his eyes and sighed. “Don’t say anything to anyone.”

“Okay.”

The complete lack of hesitation made Tony open his eyes again and look at Sam suspiciously. “I mean  _ anyone _ .”

“You mean  _ Peter _ ,” Sam corrected him knowingly, smirking annoyingly. 

He didn’t really need to respond.

-

“Hey , Dad, are you feeling okay?” Peter asked as soon as he got home from school. As had become his daily back-from-school routine, he’d asked FRIDAY where Tony was on his way up in the elevator and then gone straight there.

That day, it was the music room, where Tony was sitting at the piano and playing half-heartedly while Happy sat in the corner of the room, doing something on his tablet.

“Hey, Pete,” Tony greeted, glancing back over his shoulder and gesturing for Peter to come over. “I’m doing all right, all things considered. How was school?”

“Just school.” Peter shrugged and pulled a folding chair over by Tony before sitting down.

“Right, but was it a good day?” Tony asked him, turning a bit in his chair so he could look Peter in the eye. “How are your friends? I haven’t seen them in a while. Want to have thame come over for dinner some time?”

Peter’s face scrunched up like he didn’t understand any of the words his dad was using. “Um, they’re fine, I guess. But we’re not having them over.”

“Why not?” Tony questioned.

“Uh, because you’re hurt and the last thing you need is to have a couple of teenagers coming over and making everything worse.”

Tony opened his mouth to respond but, before he could, Peter reached in front of him and picked up his sheet music.

“What’re you playing?”

It was a question asked in a very clear attempt to change the subject but Tony decided to let him get away with it. He plucked the sheets of paper back from Peter’s hands and set them back up in front of him, flipping to the beginning again. “Just something I’m messing around with. Nothing too notable at the moment.”

Peter perked up and looked from the music to Tony. “You wrote this? Can you play it?”

Tony managed to pass up the clear opportunity to respond with an obvious dad joke. He didn’t think Peter would appreciate it very much. He glanced at Peter out of the corner of his eye and shrugged with one shoulder. When he looked over at Happy, it didn’t look like he was paying any attention. So Tony nodded once, sniffed slightly, and started playing slowly.

“Hey, I know that!” Peter, unable to stay quiet for too long, blurted out maybe forty seconds into the song. He bit back a grin at Tony’s insincere glare. “Sorry. I just - I recognize it. ‘Cause I’ve heard you humming it and stuff.”

“Yeah, because I’ve been writing it.”

“Is that what you do while I’m at school? You write music?”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Uh, maybe. Are you judging me, Peter?”

“No!”

Tony laughed briefly at how fast the response was and bumped his shoulder against Peter’s. “Relax. No, I don’t just write music while you’re gone. Sometimes I do, if I feel like it. And  _ you _ ,” he said pointedly, raising both eyebrows, “are not going to talk about it.”

Peter rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “ _ Fine _ . But then you have to play more for me.”

He didn’t really have enough energy to argue about it and so Tony continued playing. They stayed there for a few hours and at some point Happy decided they were fine and left them on their own, though there was no doubt that he would be back in a second if either of them needed him.

When Tony had finally started talking to Sam, it was as if the floodgates had been opened. No, it wasn’t that he cried.  _ Maybe _ he teared up sometimes but that was beside the point. Rather, it was just that he had a hard time not talking.

For the most part, he still only wanted to talk about Peter. He wasn’t really at a place where he cared too much about fixing anything else. He was still pretty sure he was messing up as a dad, no matter how many times Sam told him that wasn’t true, and wanted to get that fixed first and foremost.

But times like these were just better.

Sam’s theory was that his presence was helping.

According to him, Peter was so annoyed by having him around that it made his mood exponentially better when the only people there were Tony and Happy and sometimes Rhodey.

Tony hadn’t been completely convinced about that one before but he was starting to consider it a little more now. Peter definitely seemed more relaxed and that was something to be glad of for certain.

Peter being less tense made Tony relax more in turn. It meant that times like these where it was only the two of them, playing piano or working on the Vespa, which had also become more enjoyable, could be the way they were before. Neither of them were worrying so much, and yes, it was at least partially to do with the medication on Tony’s part, and they didn’t have to think about everything so much.

It wasn’t that everything was sunshine and roses now. It wasn’t.

Peter wasn’t really doing any better at school and that was still eating Tony up inside. Happy had gotten a couple of calls from the school office saying that they’d agreed not to get Tony involved but still thought someone should be aware of how badly Peter was doing. All his teachers were concerned and no one ever really knew if they should expect Peter to come to school seeming tired and depressed or just  _ angry. _

Apparently, he kept  _ almost  _ getting into fights. Of all people, Flash Thompson was the one who kept getting in the middle of it and stopping Peter from doing anything that stupid. Well, Mary Jane as well. She always seemed to be remarkably good at what Tony was calling ‘Peter-wrangling’. He did essentially whatever she wanted, even if that was walking away and cooling down instead of punching some other kid’s face in.

So, while he hadn’t really done anything yet, the school had expressed their concern. They said they’d been letting him get away with more than they normally would but he was on thin ice.

Tony had no idea what to do about it and had decided to ignore Sam’s advice to talk to his kid about it.

If he didn’t bring it up, he didn’t have to worry about it as much. It was perfectly clear that Peter would not be mentioning and so, if Tony didn’t either, they didn’t really have to talk about it.

As long as Tony wasn’t currently stressing about it in his mind, they were fine when they were together. Tony had his medication, after all, and it was really helping. He could breathe a little easier and it wasn’t so challenging to just let go of his worry sometimes and focus on Peter in a good way.

Still, he knew they’d have to talk about it sooner or later and dealing with it  _ before _ Peter ended up going too far seemed better but… Tony just didn’t know what to say. Plus, as far as he knew, Peter didn’t know that the school had been calling or that Happy had reported every word of it to Tony.

It was just that every time Tony thought, “I’ll talk to him today,” Peter would come home looking so sad and Tony couldn’t bring himself to upset him further. That was very frequently the reason they would spend all evening in the music room, inching through the books on Dari that Peter had picked up, and working on the Vespa.

Distractions.

-

_ “So just where is Spider-Man?” _ The annoyingly gossipy newscaster was saying on the television.  _ “We know that Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, is down for the count as he recovers from some nasty injuries and the rest of the Avengers have been confirmed to still be in action. But Spider-Man, who was at one time a feature of everyday life for the average New Yorker, is nowhere to be seen. It’s possible that Iron Man wasn’t the only hero to take a bad hit in their battle with The Green -” _

“Change the channel,” Tony groaned to FRIDAY, rolling his eyes and tossing back another glass of chocolate milk. There was no reason to think the beverage could intoxicate a person but Rhodey was insisting that it must be Tony’s goal. When the screen changed to yet another story about Spider-Man, Tony groaned and said, “just turn it off.”

Peter looked up from the Vespa and raised his eyebrows at Tony. “Why is it bugging you so much? Aren’t you always saying that stuff doesn’t matter?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tony agreed. He came over and set on the ground on the other side of the Vespa, holding his hand out for Peter to hand him the little screwdriver he’d been using before. “Where are we at on this?”

“Dad, don’t change the subject,” Peter said flatly. “Why is it making you mad?”

Tony raised one eyebrow at the teenager and asked, “do I look mad?”

“Ok, but just tell me what’s wrong.”

“You’re awfully stubborn today, aren’t you?”

Peter opened his mouth to respond and was about to when Happy cut in from his seat at the back of the room, where he’d been reading a magazine. 

“You’re both stubborn. Stop arguing.”

The two Starks looked at each other with amusement in their eyes, both trying not to smile. Neither of them said anything but their was a clear mutual understanding that neither of them planned to back down.

They continued working on the Vespa in silence, besides the music Tony was almost always playing in his workshop, for a while. 

“Uh, so what’re you…” Peter’s eyes shifted upwards. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and spun his screwdriver around in his hand. “What’re you thinking? About, uh, Spider-Man, I mean…”

He didn’t get an answer right away. Tony frowned as he considered the question for a few minutes, then asked, “why do you think I’m thinking about Spider-Man?”

“No, just - well, should I be - you know? Like, does Spider-Man - I just mean… Is it bad? That - that I stopped? Or - I didn’t  _ stop _ but - well… you know?” He finished his rambling off with  slightly pathetic groan and slumped forward, catching his face in his hands. When Tony didn’t say anything, Peter continuing speaking without moving at all. “Jameson keeps telling me to get pictures like he doesn’t believe that Spider-Man isn’t around right now and no one’s seen him. And I know that I am literally the only thing stopping myself from actually getting a paycheck here, Dad, but I just  _ can’t _ right now.”

A hand reached over the Vespa between the two of them and planted itself on the back of Peter’s hand.

“Then don’t,” he heard Tony say. “It’s ok, kid. Spider-Man is allowed to take a break sometimes.”

“Why can’t you just take pictures of something else anyway?” Happy chimed in. His tone was a mixture of curiosity and irritation. “Pick an Avenger and go follow them around and take pictures for a while.”

Peter gave a soft chuckle and shrugged, still not looking up. “He doesn’t want that. He wants pictures of  _ Spider-Man _ , which he will no doubt use to make me look bad somehow.”

Tony sighed loudly and ruffled Peter’s hair. “Come on, kid, don’t worry about it. Just get back to it in your own time, understood?”

“But, Dad,” Peter started, finally lifting his head. “I’m supposed to help people and I’m not right now. I want to keep helping people but I just can’t - I can’t yet. I keep worrying about you and I don’t want to go out by myself because I’ll just keep worrying and I don’t worry so much if I’m home.”

“Peter, you don’t have to worry about me.”

When Peter didn’t offer any response past an unimpressed stare, Tony sighed again and looked back down at the Vespa.

“Let’s just focus on getting this thing up and running, all right? Sooner it’s fixed up, sooner you can impress your girlfriend with it, right?”

Peter’s face reddened at that. “She’s - That’s -” He cut himself off with a strangled sound and picked up his own screwdriver, turning his attention back to the vespa as well. “Let’s just stop talking about it, ok?”

\- 

“All right, so what do you want him to do?”

Tony shrugged noncommittally and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the couch. “I don’t know, Sam.”

The other man hummed thoughtfully. “I kinda think you do. But, how about a different question? What do you think he  _ should _ do?”

There was a beat of silence and, when he spoke, his voice was strained. “He should probably get back out there, right?”

“Well, you tell me.”

“Look, he makes a difference, right? Doesn’t he?” He straightened up slightly in his seat. “And, if the reason he’s not doing anything right now is because he’s busy worrying about  _ me _ , then I don’t know that I’m totally ok with that.”

“ _ But? _ ” Sam prompted.

Tony gave him an unimpressed glare. “ _ But _ , he’s scaring me. I don’t want him going out and swinging around the city if he’s going to keep zoning out and getting angry like he’s been doing in school. And I don’t want something happening to him while I’m stuck in here and there’s nothing I can do about it. So no, Sam, I don’t want him to be a superhero right now!”

Tony’s rapidly escalating volume only earned him raised eyebrows from Sam.

“First of all, stop looking at me like that,” Tony huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “And second, would you just… Look,  _ you _ wanted me to talk to you about stuff so this is me talking to you. It would be nice if you could talk  _ back _ and tell me what to do.”

“I’m not just gonna tell you what to do, Stark,” Sam responded, a faint amused smile on his lips. “But I would  _ encourage _ you to talk to Peter about it.”

Tony rolled his eyes dramatically, moving his whole head. “And say what? That I don’t want him being Spider-Man right now? That I think he should keep doing it? What?”

“How about you just try and tell him how you’re feeling?”

He didn’t say anything in response and Sam could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out what to do. There wasn’t always a clear solution but that had never stopped Tony from trying to figure out the best one. 

After a while, Tony looked back at Sam again, frowning slightly. “Would it be too much to redesign his entire suit? I could make it safer; add a protocol or something to drag him back home if he’s getting into something too dangerous.”

“Uh… you could,” Sam said unsurely. “But, I mean, you might want to talk it over with him first and just… fill him in.”

“Ok, well then what about his room? What if I add more security and just make sure that nothing -”

“Tony, what do you think is going to happen to his room?” Sam interrupted him, holding up a hand. “Seriously, what are you imagining going down?”

“I don’t know!” Tony exclaimed in exasperation, throwing his hands up in the air. “Anything! And I just want him to be safe!”

Sam nodded patiently and said, “well, yeah, I get that. But the tower and the suit are already pretty secure.”

“Then I need to figure out something for when he’s not in the suit.”

“He has his webshooters all the time, right?”

Tony shoot him un unimpressed look. “Yeah, what’re those supposed to do if that stupid goblin thing shows up again?”

He shrugged concedingly but continued to counter Tony’s points. “Right, but you can’t expect him to just walk around in a suit all the time, you know.”

The thinking face made another appearance and disappeared just as quickly when Tony had another idea. “I made him learn to use a gun! He can have a handgun to keep with him.”

“At school?” Sam asked disbelievingly. “I don’t think so. Besides, Peter’s not old enough to have a gun.”

“I’m an inventor. I’ll invent something  _ like _ a gun.”

Sam gave a short laugh and shook his head. “That’s a risky plan.”

“Yeah, well… you can let me worry about that.”

-

“Welcome home, Peter,” FRIDAY said as Peter rode up in the elevator after school. “Did you have a good day at school?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it was great,” he scoffed.

“I’m sure that tone will convince everyone,” FRIDAY snarked, which was something Peter was usually impressed by. That day, it was just annoying. “Boss says to tell you that he’s playing piano.”

Peter perked up a bit at that. He tapped his foot impatiently the rest of the way up and didn’t waste any time getting to the music room as soon as the door slid open.

Sure enough, Tony was sitting at the piano, his wheelchair behind him, when Peter got there. He was playing something soft and slow; stopping every now and again to pick up his pencil and write something in the notebook propped up in front of him.

The chair Peter liked to pull over beside the piano bench was already there so Peter went straight to sit down, not saying anything as Tony kept playing.

Once he reached the end of the page he’d been on, Tony shut his notebooks and turned on the bench to look at his son.

“Happy, can you give us a minute?” he said with his eyes still on Peter.

Happy stood quickly and made his way to the door, sending a look to Peter that the teenager had trouble trying to decipher.

Peter, now apprehensive, furrowed his eyebrows and looked questioningly at Tony. “Did I do something?”

Tony gave a slightly tight smile, reaching to clap a hand on Peter’s shoulder. “No, no. I’ve just been… thinking since you brought up Spider-Man before.” He didn’t miss the way Peter seemed to stiffen at the mention. “Listen, kid, I’m just worried about you. You get that, yeah? You understand? And I keep thinking about if something happens and I’m…” He glanced at the chair, which stood in wait a couple feet away. “You know - still in a chair.”

“Dad, I think I can take care of myself,” Peter put in, expression still pinched.

“Yeah, well, so can I, but you still worry, right?”

His face grew a half shade darker. “That’s different,” he defended. “You’re  _ hurt. _ ”

“I know,” Tony responded dismissively. “But you worry anyway. Don’t you?”

He didn’t answer verbally but he didn’t really have to, did he?

“So, my point,” Tony started again. “Is that I think you need something to keep with you; something you can use to defend yourself better than the webs do.”

Peter’s eyes narrowed slightly. “‘Something?’” he repeated suspiciously. “Something, like… a weapon? Or what?”

“Well… yeah. Yeah, like a weapon,” Tony admitted with a shrug he hoped came off as casual. “You know how to handle a gun now and I think -”

Peter jumped to his feet, eyes widening. “What?  _ No! _ Dad, no! I’m not carrying a gun around with me!”

“Hang on now, kid, just hear me out,” Tony tried, looking up at Peter with partially raised hands. “Would you just - just sit down and talk about it, all right?”

“No, I’m not gonna talk about it,” Peter replied incredulously. “I’m not carrying a gun. End of story.”

His dad sighed tiredly. “It doesn’t have to be a gun then, but just  _ something _ , Peter, because -”

“Dad!” Peter cut him off, his tone frustrated. He still wasn’t sitting down. Instead, he stood stubbornly, posture growing more tense as they argued. “Seriously, just stop! I’m fine. Nothing’s happened and nothing’s going to and I don’t need a gun if it does.”

Tony dragged a hand down his face, groaning under his breath. They both stopped talking briefly, each of them waiting for the other to say something first. If only Peter knew how much better it would make Tony feel if he would  _ just sit _ . “I know you don’t think you will and I hope you’re right. But I would feel a lot better if -”

He was cut off when Peter finally gave up and dropped back into his seat, crumpling out of exhaustion. He looked completely miserable. “I really,  _ really _ don’t think I need it. And I definitely don’t want it. So…”

“‘So?’” Tony repeated cautiously, raising an eyebrow.

“How about somewhere else? Like, in the living room or something?” Peter suggested with a small shrug. “‘Cause then I’d know where it was if I  _ did _ ever need it but I wouldn’t have to carry it around.”

It wasn’t exactly what Tony had had in mind. He could think of a million scenarios where a gun in the living room wouldn’t do anyone any good. But then, he supposed there were a million ways sticking one in Peter’s backpack or wherever could be a problem. And, well… it was better than nothing at all.

“Yeah,” he relented. “Yeah, let’s do that. Later, though. For now, do you want to hear what I’d got so far?” he offered with a nod towards his notebook.

Peter smiled tiredly, still slumped in his chair, and nodded. “Sure.”

And it was good enough for then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I actually hate this chapter a little but I kept rewriting sections and just... Yeah, this is as good as it's gonna get at this point. I figured I needed to just move forward if I actually want to finish this story.


	46. Chapter Forty-Six

Before being pulled back by Flash Thompson, of all people, Peter had been nearing a blind rage. 

It was all the fault of a teacher, if you wanted to look at it that way, which Peter sort of did. Specifically, it was Mr. Harrington, who always had to go and ask questions like, “how’s your father doing, Peter?” As if Peter needed the other students to be reminded of any part of that sentence.

Tony being hurt…

Tony being Peter’s dad…

Peter…

Sentences like that one could, for some students, be translated directly to, “don’t forget to tell Peter that Tony Stark is pathetic.”

So they did.

And Peter didn’t like it. 

And it turned out that Tony didn’t particularly like getting a call from the school about Peter fighting. Even more than that, he didn’t like Happy trying to convince him not to go to Peter’s school.

Mr. Thompson didn’t like getting a call either and Flash didn’t have anything that great to say about that himself.

Principal Morita wasn’t too fond of people getting in fights in his school.

To sum the whole situation up, no one was especially happy about any of it.

“Mr. Morita,  _ please _ , don’t call my dad,” Flash had practically begged their principal when they had first been called into the office. “He’ll kill me!”

Morita sighed, raised one eyebrow. “Is that right? Well, maybe you should’ve thought of that before you started fighting other students.”

“I wasn’t fighting,” Flash protested, eyes wide. “I was just trying to pull Peter back!”

The principal maintained a blank expression. “Have you told that to the student you elbowed in the face?”

Flash’s frustration only grew and he sat up straighter in his chair, gripping the arms. “He was still trying to attack Peter after I pulled him away. I was defending  _ Peter _ ! That should count for something, shouldn’t it?”

Peter sank down in his seat and just barely managed to suppress a groan. 

“Did you have something to add?” Principal Morita questioned.

No answer.

“Right,” Morita said tersely. He started to reach for his phone. “Well, I’m going to call both of your parents now and we’ll all discuss this when they get here.”

He paused, his hand hovering over the phone as he looked between the two miserable boys. “I’ve given you both a lot of grace recently, you do realize? This is just… too far. I’m sorry, but I need you to understand that you were given plenty of warning and this is ultimately on yourselves.”

They both nodded silently. Peter got the feeling that last part was meant more for him.

Neither made any attempts to argue about it when they were told to wait in the chairs outside and stay there until their parents arrived. They shuffled out of his office and sat in the chairs farthest from the door.

The first word of Peter’s mouth once they were seated in the uncomfortable plastic chairs was, “sorry.”

“‘Sorry?’” Flash echoed incredulously. “Why?”

“Um… ‘cause it was my fault?” 

Flash huffed, rolling his eyes back slowly, then propped an elbow up on Peter’s shoulder. “Listen… did you  _ make _ me get involved? Did you even so much as imply that you wanted me to?”

When Peter didn’t answer, Flash raised both eyebrows expectantly.

“Oh, uh… no?” Peter said hesitantly.

“Exactly,” he said, smiling smugly as he pulled back into his own space and crossed his arms. “So stop acting like everything’s always your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for.” He sighed then at Peter’s unconvinced expression. “At least not right now, ok?”

“Um… yeah. Ok,” Peter muttered, shrugging slightly and shoving his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt. “But… well, why? I - I mean, like, why do you keep trying to help and stuff? Why do you suddenly care?”

“Well, first of all, I’m offended,” Flash told him flippantly. “I thought we were friends. And  _ that’s _ why, by the way. I know we weren’t friends before but we are now and I look out for my friends. Besides… you kind of need it.”

“I…” he trailed off when he realized that he didn’t know what he was going to say. Instead, he gave a conceding nod, a tiny smirk appearing on his face, and said, “thanks, Eugene.”

Flash scoffed and smacked Peter’s arm with the back of his hand but smirked back like he maybe wanted to chuckle about it.

They settled into a nervous but slightly more comfortable silence then, both staring across the hall at the school banners, not really looking at them at all.

Flash’s dad got to the school first. He was a large man with a harsh face; someone most people wouldn’t want to mess with. The first thing Peter noticed about him when he tossed the door open and stalked down the hall towards them was the anger burning in his dark eyes. 

Next, he noticed Flash stiffening, his posture growing rigid. When Peter turned to Flash with a concerned expression on his face, he saw a clenched jaw and widened eyes. It was subtle but Peter noticed.

“Flash? You good?” he asked under his breath as Mr. Thompson approached them. 

He nodded once with a casual and dismissive, “sure.”

But Peter wasn’t too certain he believed that.

When Mr. Thompson reached the chairs and stood in front of the two teenagers, he spoke with a low yet booming voice. “Fighting again, are we? And is this kid the twerp you felt like beating on?”

Flash kept his gaze down and didn’t say anything; just shrugged a little.

“Mr. Thompson, he was just trying to help me,” Peter offered. “And he really wasn’t beating anyone up.”

“ _ Peter _ ,” Flash hissed at him sharply. 

Mr. Thompson ignored him though and continuing speaking directly to Flash. “What is this then? Is he your boyfriend or something?”

Flash still didn’t look at him, though he narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw even tighter. “No.”

Peter could tell how much effort was going into keeping his tone even. 

Mr. Thompson scoffed and shook his head. He jabbed a finger in Flash’s direction. “You stay here. I’m going in to talk to your principal and you and I are gonna have words this evening. Understood?”

“Understood,” Flash replied flatly.

Neither of them moved or spoke as Mr. Thompson walked to the door to Principal Morita’s office. They sat completely still in their plastic seats and Peter was pretty sure he could feel the irritation radiating off of Flash’s body.

He cleared his throat hesitantly once they had been alone again for two or three minutes. “Uh, Flash, I -”

“Shut up,” Flash cut him off, finally looking up again to stare disbelievingly at Peter. “Just shut up.”

“Flash, I’m sorry. I -”

“Stop!” he exclaimed, eyebrows raised. “I’m not mad at you! I just want you to stop talking!”

Peter just shut his mouth tightly and slid down a little in his chair. 

Flash propped his head up on his fist and started bouncing his leg. He stayed that way for a few minutes, his breathing starting to increase.

Peter could feel him getting more and agitated, which was making him feel the same way.

Then, we no warning whatsoever, Flash slammed his fist down on the weak arm of his chair and exclaimed, “He’s just the worst! I can’t believe they called him!”

Peter jumped slightly, then tried to shrink in his chair. “Maybe it, uh, won’t be so bad?”

“Yes, it will,” Flash insisted strongly. “He used to get called to school all the time and it was horrible. He’s  _ mad _ . Don’t act like you couldn’t see how mad he was.”

“Well, I -”

Peter wasn’t really sure what he was tried to say but it was cut off anyway when the door opened again. This time they saw Happy and Tony and Peter attempted to shrink even further.

Tony, of course, was in his wheelchair, with Happy behind it and trying to help push it without much success. Tony was insisting that he could move it himself and definitely did not need Happy to do it.

It was absolutely a pride thing but Peter certainly wasn’t going to say anything about it.

The fact that Tony had not been going out in public in his wheelchair did not go unnoticed by Peter. He knew that his dad had been trying his hardest to make sure he wasn’t seen that way. And yet… there he was. And Peter felt that familiar and hated sinking feeling of guilt.

“Peter, I tried to make him stay home,” Happy called down the empty hall before Tony could say anything. “He insisted. There was nothing I could do.”

Tony slapped Happy’s hand away from his wheelchair and, in other circumstances, Peter might have laughed at the clear exasperation in Happy’s eyeroll. He continued forward, moving the wheelchair with the controls he’d installed. It was designed to be able to move on its own or manually but it was very clear which option Tony preferred.

“ _ Yes _ , I insisted,” Tony responded. “Because he’s my  _ kid _ , so he’s my responsibility and if the school wants me to be here, then here I am.”

“You didn’t have to come,” Peter said quietly, halfway trying to avoid eye contact. “They would’ve let you send Happy or Rhodey or someone. They know you’re hurt.”

He wasn’t really sure why that appeared to bother Tony so much.

“Ok. We’ll talk later,” Tony said shortly. “Where am I supposed to go?”

The principal’s secretary stepped out of her office then and Peter wondered why she had stayed there when Flash’s dad had shown up a few minutes earlier. “Oh, Mr. Stark, you can just come with me and I’ll show you to Principal Morita’s office. He’s still talking to Flash’s father but he’ll be ready to see you in a moment. Right this way.”

Peter and Flash gave each other a disparaging look at the secretary’s clear flirtations.

“Really?” Flash mouthed at him. He smirked and shook his head. 

“Apparently,” Peter muttered.

Tony only ended up being in with the principal for about a half hour. When they came out of the office, along with Mr. Thompson, Principal Morita told Peter and Flash that they were only going to be put on suspension for the rest of the week and then have detention for an hour of school through the week after that. Well, that and a very serious warning.

No one wasted any time in leaving once Morita had indicated that they could.

Once they had reached their car, Happy told Peter to just get in the car; that he would help Tony get in on his own. Peter was pretty certain that arguing wasn’t the best plan at the moment, all things considered, and so he nodded silently and walked around to the other side of the car.

While he waited, he watched the Thompson’s walking to their own car across the parking lot. Mr. Thompson delivered a quick smack to the back of Flash’s head as they walked. It didn’t look too hard but… for some reason, Peter still found himself following Flash was a concerned gaze until he was disappeared into his father’s rundown truck.

“Peter? What’s going on in there?” Tony asked him gently.

Peter shook his head, not looking away from the Thompson’s car. “Nothing.”

“Yeah, right,” his dad replied with an eyeroll Peter didn’t have to actually see to know was there. “I can practically see the wheels turning in your head, kid.”

He was silent at first; just breathing.

_ In and out _ .

“I’m sorry,” he finally said once the car had started to move. “It won’t happen again.”

“What won’t happen? Another fight? Peter, would you look at me, please?”

He did.

Tony looked confused. “Come on, kid, just tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I just…” He shrugged. “I’m really sorry that you had to come here and deal with this. It’s my fault and I’m just… sorry about it. You shouldn’t have to worry about this kind of thing. Especially not now.”

Happy, who didn’t usually interrupt their conversations in the car, decided to that time. “Believe me, I tried to convince him to just let me handle it. There was nothing you could’ve done to stop him from going.”

“Yeah, except not being a problem in the first place,” Peter countered immediately.

“Whoa there,” Tony stopped him with an empty chuckle. “Who said you’re a problem? How many times do we have to have this conversation, Peter?”

Peter closed his eyes briefly and inhaled sharply. “That’s not… That’s not what I meant. I - I’m not saying that  _ I’m _ a problem. Just… I caused one, ok? You can’t say that’s not true.”

Tony just looked at him for a beat. His expression was both calculating and sad. Finally, he gave Peter something between a nod and a shrug. “Ok,” he said plainly. “But I  _ can _ say that you don’t have to be sorry. You just have to tell me how I can help you moving forward, deal?”

“I feel like you should be more worked up about this,” Peter admitted slowly. “You didn’t want to leave home until you were out of the chair and know you had to.”

Happy scoffed loudly. “He did  _ not  _ have to.”

They ignored him and continued the conversation as if he hadn’t spoken at all.

“Peter, you matter a lot more than that,” Tony told him emphatically.”I care more about taking care of you than keeping people from seeing me in a wheelchair, all right?”

“I know that,” Peter assured him. “But you don’t even seem annoyed or anything.”

A confused frown formed on Tony’s face. “Do you want me to be?”

“Well, no,” Peter deadpanned, then sighed, tugging at his seatbelt in evident agitation. “Just… Never mind. Maybe we can talk about it later. I, um, I don’t really want to talk right now.”

His dad watched him consideringly as he worked to maintain a neutral expression. Then, after what felt like ages to Peter, Tony nodded.

“Whatever you say, kid. We’ll talk later.”

-

It was after dinner when they actually got around to continuing their conversation from the car. Peter, not exactly to Tony’s surprise, didn’t offer any warning before relaunching the topic as if it hadn’t been hours already.

“I just don’t understand why you’re so unfazed because, like, last week, you were just as agitated and - and stressed as I am, you know?” The words tumbled out with a shocking speed. “Well, I don’t really mean ‘why’ but just  _ ‘how’ _ , you know? Because I want to stop too and I don’t know how. So what do I do about it, you know?”

Tony didn’t respond right away, needing a minute or five to process the rush of words Peter had just directed at him.

“Well?” Peter tried his best to groan impatiently.

“‘Well’...” Tony echoes. “I don’t know that I’m not stressed. I’m just maybe doing better at handling it right now.”

“OK,” Peter sounded frustrated. “Then can you tell me why? What changed?”

Tony hesitated, took a deep breath, and then answered him carefully. “Well, you know, Sam’s been helping me out quite a bit.”

“‘Sam’s been helping’?” Peter repeated, pinching his eyebrows together. “Helping how? What did he say that was so great?”

“Does he really bother you that much?” Tony questioned at Peter’s incredulous tone.

Peter narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why are you trying to change the subject?”

Based on his dad’s subtle deflation, Peter suspected that he had been hoping it would go unnoticed.

“Dad?”

Tony sighed heavily. “Don’t look so concerned, kid,” he said with a sad smile. “I just… Well, you know I’ve been pretty… anxious, I guess, lately, yes? Sam wanted to talk about it and he just thought that it could be a good idea to try some kind of medication for that. I guess it’s just… It’s helped. I’m not as  _ tense _ now…”

Peter looked at him curiously. “Ok, then… Well, why didn’t you just tell me that?”

“Because, Peter, I clearly didn’t want you do think any less of me. No, hold on,” he added quickly, raising a hand when Peter looked ready to protest that sentiment. “I just mean… I didn’t want to be upset or - or any more worried about me than you already are. Because it makes  _ me _ feel weak and, I don’t know, insufficient, I guess and… I didn’t… well, you get it, don’t you?”

“Dad… You know it doesn’t actually make you weak, right? And that you’re not insufficient?”

Tony smiled knowingly. “Yeah, kid, I do. Still feels like it though.”

Peter rolled his eyes a little. “Ok, so if I took anxiety meds, would it make me weaker? You don’t even need to answer because I know what you’re going to say. So don’t think it about yourself either, got it?”

The emphatic way Peter said it brought a fond expression to Tony’s face. “Sure,” he said. “I’ll try.”

They grew quiet then and Tony took comfort in the Peter seemed to have calmed down. Apparently, Sam wasn’t that far off on the whole communication thing.

The sun had completely disappeared behind the city’s towers already when they started talking again; the room dimmed due to no one turning the lights on as they sat there in silence.

The first thing said by either of them was Tony’s, “lights, FRI.”

There was no verbal response from the AI but the lights in the room slowly came to life.

Peter blinked a little as his eyes adjusted, then yaned and shot up to his feet a moment later. “You want ice cream? I want ice cream.”

A slow but bright smile grew on Tony’s face and he nodded. “Why even ask? Of course I do.”

Peter grinned -  _ really _ grinned - and practically bounced away in the direction of the fridge to get it. The sight warmed his dad’s heart.

“We don’t have a lot of options,” Peter called, muttering something about sending Happy to the store. “Is toffee ok?”

“Sounds great,” Tony replied easily.

Peter returned to the table then, a pint of toffee ice cream in each hand. “Do you want to move to the couch or just stay here?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Tony told him with a small shrug. “Whatever you want. We should probably move if you want to watch tv.”

They decided that they did want to and, once Peter had helped Tony from the wheelchair to the couch, they spent hours there. In a lighter mood than he had been in ages, Peter sat curled up against Tony, seemingly without his usual concern of hurting him by leaning too much. That was a problem Tony had been telling him didn’t actually exist anyway.

As they sat there, with the wheelchair pushed back to where they couldn’t really see it, one could almost forget that anything was wrong; that life wasn’t just the comfortable normal they had become so used to.

Just for a while, it was just Tony and Peter, doing what they always did, and with nothing to worry about at all. Neither of them were complaining about it.

-

Now that Tony had been seen in public in his wheelchair - they weren’t sure who had gotten a picture but, thanks to whoever it had been, it was very much public knowledge then - it seemed like a good time to finally respond to all the requests he’d been getting from MIT for him to return to give another guest lecture. They had been asking for a couple of months but… Well, Tony’s life had been pretty jampacked.

In his weeks indoors, he had been considering what he could present and speak on if he said yes and had been planning on responding once he has back on his feet. But then… the wheelchair was already out there so there wasn’t much reason to stay holed up in his tower at that point.

Why not go on a short trip and give a guest lecture?

He could bring Peter, anyway, and maybe they could take a tour around Tony’s alma mater. It would be nice to get out of New York for a bit.

So he made the decision to have FRIDAY send a message to the school and tell them he would come in two weeks.

And now he was wondering if it had been the best choice. 

“I just don’t know how smart this is,” he admitted at the table in the compound. 

He had Peter had gone to join everyone for lunch on Saturday. Peter, currently, had left the table and gone to play board games with Wanda.

“Ok, well, why’s that?” Rhodey asked him conversationally.

Tony sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “I don’t know. Because maybe it’s too soon after… everything. Maybe announcing where I am and standing on a stage is like putting a target on my back.”

“Uh, no offense, Tony,” Bruce started carefully. “But that doesn’t usually seem like a huge concern for you. Tell me if I’m wrong here, but haven’t you knowingly put a target on your back more than a few times before?”

His friend didn’t say anything, leaning back in his chair just looking. The expression on his face was unreadable and his mouth was tightly shut. The only visible response he gave was a small shrug.

Steve surprised everyone when he chuckled quietly and leaned forward, arms crossed on the table. He watched Tony closely, a small smile on his face. “He’s not really talking about his back though, is he?”

Tony narrowed his eyes a fraction. “I don’t know, Steve, is he?”

“Oh,” Rhodey drew out, understanding taking over his features. “You’re talking about making  _ Peter _ a target, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m saying,” Tony granted. “So what do you all think? You’ve always got something to add, right?”

Clint shrugged. “I don’t know, man, why don’t you ask Peter about it?” He continued at Tony’s questioning expression. “I mean, he’s old enough to know what he’s comfortable with. If he feels good about it, then don’t stress out over it. If he doesn’t, just leave him with us.”

“Or don’t go at all,” Steve added.

“He already said he would though,” Bruce countered. “Backing out would be rude.”

Tony gave a short laugh at that. “I can back out if I feel like it; I’m Tony Stark.”

Clint groaned and tossed his head back, earning another laugh from the other man.

Once his laughter had faded, Tony shrugged, a hint of a smile still on his face. “Yeah, but you’re right though. I should just ask him what he wants to do. He’s…” He shrugged again. “Peter can take care of himself. If it doesn’t go well, we’ll figure it out.”

Sam smiled widely and nodded. “I’m very happy to hear you say that.”

Tony rolled his but continued to smile. “Yeah, well. Doesn’t hurt to stay positive.”

Rhodey grinned as well and clapped a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “That’s right. Let’s just keep remembering that. And hey, I’ll go to MIT with you, all right? Little more support can’t be a bad thing.”

“I could go too, if you wanted,” Bruce offered. “I may not be much help in every situation but I’d sort of like to go anyway. Could be interesting, depending on what topic you choose.”

“Oh, please,” Tony responded with a smirk. “You love hearing me talk. It doesn’t matter what topic I pick and you know it.”

Bruce only responded with a long suffering sigh and a noncommittal shrug.

-

“Uh, so, I guess you’re getting a ride from Harry again, then?”

It was entirely the opposite of the advice Tony had given Peter when the two of them had finished with Peter’s Vespa a couple days before.

His friends had suggested getting pizza after school and Tony had told him that he had to say ‘yes’. Both of them, in Tony’s words, had sulked long enough and it was time to start pushing themselves and each other to “get back at there.” It had also provided a perfect opportunity for Peter to put his new Vespa to use.

Of course, Tony’s advice had included a little more confidence.

“I don’t know, Tiger,” MJ answered him nonchalantly. “Got a different idea?”

“Um…” He pressed his lips together a shrugged, tugging at his sleeves. “Well, uh, I’m sure his car would be more comfortable but -”

“Hey, MJ, you riding with me?” Harry called on his way over to his car, interrupting his friends. Ned trailed behind him, ready to get into the back of the car. It had become the usual setup for MJ to sit in the front and Ned in the back, assuming he didn’t walk with Peter, who they all knew wasn’t going to be riding in Harry’s car.

“Give me a minute,” MJ replied, then turned back to Peter, who had deflated slightly. “But?” she prompted.

He hesitated, considered saying ‘never mind’, then decided he knew what Tony would say to do. “Well, I just finished my Vespa with, uh, with my dad. So, I just - If you wanted, you could…” he gestured vaguely. “You know. I could give you a ride.”

A slow smile showed itself on her face before she pushed it away again. She looked back over her shoulder at Harry and called, “No thanks, Harry, I’m good. You can just take Ned this time.”

“If you’re sure,” was all Harry said before climbing in his car, waving at the two of them as he drove away.

“So,” MJ turned back to Peter expectantly. “Where’s this Vespa at?”

Peter forced himself not to remain totally frozen and to actually respond verbally. “It’s just, um, over here a little ways. Uh, it’s not really anything special so…”

“‘So’?” she repeated.

“Well, you know, I’m sorry if it isn’t that great.”

A smirk Peter wasn’t sure he understood grew on her face. “I’m sure it’ll be fantastic. Now come on, lead the way.”

“Um… right, yes, ok,” Peter said, trying not to flounder too much.

He tried not to grin  _ too _ widely on the way to where he’d parked his Vespa, MJ trailing behind him.

-

“Dad!” Peter called out excitedly, practically tumbling out of the elevator later that night.

Tony, who was sitting on the couch with Happy, jumped a little, nearly dropping his mug but certainly spilling some of the hot chocolate on his knee. “What?” He sounded both alarmed and somewhat offended.

“Sorry, sorry!” Peter cringed but couldn’t quite keep the smile off his face. “I just -Sorry! MJ let me give her a ride! I just wanted to tell you.”

Tony grinned, temporarily forgetting about the spilled drink. “Well, look at you!” He nudged Happy’s side, still grinning at Peter. “Can you believe that? This kid is one step closer to actually asking her out on an actual date.”

“Hey! No, I’m not!” Peter protested as Happy chucked. His face turned red immediately. “It’s not like that!”

“Uh huh,” his dad nodded sarcastically, as if that should be a possible thing to do. “Then why are you so pleased about giving her a ride home?”

Happy nodded solemnly. “Yeah, that’s a good point.”

Peter narrowed his eyes at Happy, his cheeks going a shade brighter. “There’s no reason you need to get involved, Happy. We’re just friends.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Tony responded in a breezy, teasing tone.

“Although,” Happy added, holding one finger up. His expression remained just as serious as before, though his eyes were bright and playful. Peter’s glares did nothing to deter him. “The longer you insist you don’t like her, the less likely it becomes that she’s gonna keep waiting around for you to gather the courage to stay something about it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you if she’s off on her twenty-fourth date with some other guy by this time next year because  _ you _ were pretending you weren’t obsessed with her.”

Peter frowned curiously, his eyebrows furrowed. “That’s kinda specific, Happy.”

Happy smirked and gave him a small shrug. “But you’re not denying that I’m right.”

“Oh, he’s not!” Tony agreed brightly.

Peter groaned and threw his hands up in the air but was unable to keep a smile off of his face. “You’re both completely awful! Forget you two.”

Tony gave an offended scoff, dropping his jaw and placing a hand over his heart. “Well, fine; be that way. But Happy’s right, by the way. You can’t blame us when you miss your chance.”

His kid rolled his eyes and waved the comment off as he made his way to his room. “Whatever. I’m gonna go play video games with Ned and Wanda. I’ll be back out later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, everyone… Here's the deal…
> 
> As of now, I'm putting this story on hiatus. But don't freak out! You've obviously noticed how infrequently I've been updating and I don't like that anymore than you do.
> 
> I assure you that I am going to complete this story! It's just taking longer than I had hoped for. Lately, writing hasn't been coming as easily to me as it does sometimes.
> 
> Basically, I really think I'm going to be able to write more without worrying about updating. I may turn out to be wrong about that but I'm hoping to get to the end of the story relatively quickly. As soon as I have completed the final chapter, I will start updating again! I don't know yet if I'll update once or twice weekly but, either way, I will update consistently once the story is complete.
> 
> Until then, I'm sorry but it's just going to have to be on hiatus. However, I'll probably still post separate stories, which I know isn't the same but… well, it's something. And I have a lot of ideas too, so I'm sure I'll write and share at least some of them. I do post more stories on AO3 than here, though, so keep that in mind.
> 
> One last thing… I try really hard to respond to every comment/review. I know sometimes I don't get to them all but I've responded to almost every single one, even when I'm answering the same questions over and over again. While this story is on hiatus, I will still respond to comments but will not be answering questions/comments like, "when are you updating," "please continue this," or "are you going to upload a new chapter soon?"
> 
> The answers to those questions are here. I will finish this story, I have no clue when I'll be able to update again, and I hope both of those things happen soon. If you leave a comment along those lines, just don't expect a response.
> 
> And listen… I get the whole "constructive criticism" thing. I do. This isn't me not taking criticism well or being butthurt because some people don't like my story. But the thing is that I don't expect this to be perfect, I am not saying it's totally believable and flawless, I don't think it's how the movies should or would go, I don't claim that it's totally accurate, and I know that there are plenty of typos my friends and I miss before I update the story. The thing is, we're writing it the way we're writing it and we aren't likely to change anything. Honestly, all it does when you tell me what's wrong with it is take my motivation down a notch. That's part of why I'm putting it on pause like this.
> 
> So I would just ask… if you don't like this story, which is fine, then just don't read it. And if there's something about it that makes up for what you don't like, you really don't need to tell me what you don't like. Because clearly, it doesn't bother you all that much if you're still reading. And if you're reading for some reason even though you hate everything about it, just keep it to yourself, I guess. I really don't think that's asking too much. It's just that I'm not asking for constructive criticism and so I would appreciate it if you just didn't.
> 
> I'm trying to to do what's best for my own mental health here as well as finish this story for you guys so that's why I'm saying all of this and asking for your patience. I honestly think it'll be better in the long run and I do believe that I'll be able to enjoy writing this more again. Honestly, I feel like that'll make it turn out better too. So you may need to wait a while for a more but I'm hoping that once you get it, it'll be better than it has been recently.
> 
> Thank you all for reading this far! I really do appreciate it and I hope you'll still be interested enough to keep reading once I'm able to keep posting chapters! And I honestly love hearing from you guys (I hope this author's note doesn't make it sound like I don't!) so seriously, feel free to chat with me whenever! Tumblr is the best bet (I'm peterparkercinnamonroll) so, if you're on there, you can talk to me anytime. I know I just told you stuff I'm not going to be responding to, but I'm totally willing to answer other questions about the story or whatever. I like talking with people and I'll miss reading comments from those of you who comment regularly (I already do, just because of posting chapters so infrequently) so I honestly would love to hear from you all whenever, ok? ^-^


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